Chapter 4

Freedom

Bob took them through many complicated paths, where majority of the time they had unexpected meeting with the Earth Lizards. Zero and his group used this opportunity to sweep through the floor and gain experience against the Earth Lizards. It was a grinding fight that they had done for hours. Zero eventually reverted back into his human form, and gathering experience points became a lot slower.

His group chugged on, taking minimal rest. Jack and Alan were having a difficult time keeping up with Zero, Agnis, and Zeraph’s pace. They wondered if all three of them were monsters to be able to keep going without stopping for a long period of time. Zeraph chugged forward because he had limited time and he did not want to waste even a second. Every stroke was carefully placed and the battle mentality was sharpened.

Agnis was a gamer, and she was the type of person that kept battling non-stop. This was the reason why the nickname “battle maiden” stuck to her like glue. From playing with Agnis for a long period of time and being dragged around by her, Zero had begun to pick up the same habits as Agnis. Grinding. Grinding. Grinding till one spits out blood.

Alan on the other hand had to dash around to pick up the fallen loot on the ground with Bob. They were designated not to leave a single copper on the floor by Zero. He needed every single coin he could gather to invest into the Draconis Library. They trudged through the winding tunnels for hours, picking off monsters at the same time.

“We’re right underneath the Evil Magician Mano’s room.” Bob had said with fear in his voice. “I’ll wait here. All you need to do is go through that trapdoor. You’ll eventually come out in his favorite wine cellar then his room is the next door to the right.”

“Wine cellar?” Agnis ears perked. “I’ve got to see this.” She pushed forward first and entered through the trapdoor.

“She likes wine?” Zeraph pointed towards her. This was the first time hearing her seem a bit excited over a wine.

Both Alan and Jack shrugged. Even Zero did not know she liked wine. When they followed after, they noticed Agnis taking the collection of expensive wine bottles and putting into her Zenith pouch. Zero followed suit, putting wine into his Zenith pouch. He could already see money rolling in from selling the expensive wine the evil magician stored.

It didn’t take long before the group had raided the cellar, everyone was careful not to let a single one drop.

“Are there no more?” Agnis asked. Everyone nodded their heads. There wasn’t a single wine bottle left behind.

The group trekked forward and arrived at the door to the evil magician Mano’s room.

“How is it that the magician hasn’t detected us yet?” Jack asked. “You know this is a bit strange. Do all boss characters always stay in one room and till we enter they won’t know?”

“Usually, it goes like that,” said Alan. He reached forward and slowly turned the handle.

“Zeraph you go in first. You’re the highest level out of all of us.” Zero whispered and pushed him forward.

“What does level got to do with anything? If you want strength, go in your Origin form.” Zeraph grabbed Zero’s shirt by the collar and chucked him through the slightly opened door. Zero rolled through and appeared in a very large room. All around him were potions he had never seen before, some were glowing blue, others red and many were glowing with a strange black color that looked dangerous to even touch. In the middle of the room, in front of a desk, was a skeleton with a magician’s cloak sitting in a chair hunched over.

“That was quite a tumble Zero,” Agnis followed after then Zeraph, Jack, and finally Alan.

“Is this really where the Evil Magician Mano stayed?” said Zeraph.

“Apparently so, look he’s all bones.” Alan was walking over looking over the shoulders of the hunched over skeleton. He read the research papers that Evil Magician Mano wrote. After shuffling through the papers, he jumped back in fear. “I-M-M-O-R-T-A-L-I-T-Y!” He shouted when he read the last letter. “He’s alive!”

Black swirls of ghastly black magic crept towards the Evil Magician Mano. The clattering of bones was heard. The bones reattached itself into a working mobile being. Heavy amount of accessories decorated his fingers. Zero’s psychic second skill identify activated.

The boss of the dungeon Evil Magician Mano has appeared. Boss – Evil Magician Mano

Level 180

Since a thousand years ago, the evil magician Mano had searched for the power of immortality, his answer that he had come up with was becoming an immortal lich turning himself into a demon. He saps the power of the Leprechauns to make his immortal power into a reality, turning good magic into evil. During his thousand years as an immortal lich, he had gained and polluted the Forest, creating monsters that humanity has never seen before. His special skill is draining magic from the living using the black Krustallos from his skeleton wand.

“A Krustallos stone is here?” Zero did not expect to find a Krustallos here of all places. If a Krustallos were present that meant the magician knows some secret of the Krustallos that he doesn’t know about.

“What are you lowly beings doing in my domain!” The Evil Magician Mano screeched in fury. His jaws chattered against each other creating an annoying sound in between each word.

“I’m going in first!” Agnis charged forward, her holy blue flames erupted around the sword.

A black translucent barrier appeared before the Magician, stopping Agnis’ attack. For a moment the barrier kept Agnis at bay, but ten seconds later the holy flame sparkled cutting through. The first attack contacted Evil Magician, and he screamed an unholy scream.

“You despicable elf!” The evil magician pulled out his skeleton wand from thin air and brought it forward. A spark of black magic, formed six needles from black magic aimed directly at Agnis. They flew like homing missiles directly towards her. She dodged but a couple made contact.

Jack came running in screaming at the top of his lungs, his hammer glowing with strengthening magic. Zero and Zeraph also took part in the battle where black magic needles flew in all directions towards their opponents, while they dodged them best they could.

Zero noticed at the tip of the wand, a large black Krustallos in a rose shape was present. That’s a Krustallos? He never seen a rose shape Krustallos before.

A stray black needle flew straight towards Zero’s side and impaled him.

You have received heavy damage and lost 1000 health points.

Zero knew this battle wasn’t going to be easy with just five of them. The attack took a good portion of his health. They did not have a healer to heal them in times of trouble. It was basically a fight against time before all his teammates were wiped out.

“Alan what are you doing?” Zero called out while he was busily dodging the black needles. He noticed that Alan wasn’t even taking part in the battle but was reading excerpts in a book. They needed every firepower they could use, but one of them was reading at a crucial time.

“Give me a moment. I think I have found a weakness!” Alan called out, but since he blurted that out, the Evil magician changed his target towards Alan.

“Eeek!” Alan scooped up the papers lying on the table and ran around the room, trying his best to dodge the black needles that were hot on his tail.

Agnis and Zeraph rushed over, they simultaneously blocked the needles with their sword.

“Thanks guys,” Alan wheezed. He was breathing a bit too hard from the run.

“No time to thank us. What’s his weakness?” Zeraph growled, he blocked a couple more black needles that were flying towards them once again. Zero rushed in with his sword inflicting small amounts of damage to the body.

“It says here,” Alan was reading the paper in his hand as quickly as possible. “From my understanding all magic goes through from the Kr-u-stallos? I’m not sure what a Krustallos is but that staff forces the Krustallos to change the magic to fuel his life. I suggest you to destroy the whole wand.”

“Did you hear that Zero!” Zeraph yelled. He ran forward, this time his objective different than blindly attacking the skeleton body.

“I heard you.” Zero replied. He ducked under a swing that came from the left. He switched his sword to his other hand and swung towards the evil Magician’s staff. Upon impact, a spark of black magic escaped and a small cracked formed on the staff.

“You cretins! You will all die!” Screeched the Evil Magician Mano. He let out a powerful area attack where twenty black tendrils sprung from their shadows and surrounded Zero and the other members. They struck towards Zero like a whip leaving red marks and cuts on his young skin.

Zero had to defend as best as he could, while the black tendrils furiously attacked. He couldn’t stop every single one of them and his life chipped away from each miss. Agnis’ arrows cut through three of the black tendrils with wind arrow. The rest Zero chopped away.

“You alright?” Agnis asked. She knocked another arrow and this time, she aimed it directly at the staff. She let loose and the arrow hit perfectly where Zero had struck. A larger crack formed around the staff and the Evil Magician Mano’s health dropped significantly more than when they hit the skeleton’s body.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Both once again, dashed forward into the fray of battle. Zero’s group’s attacks were a colorful array of blue, black, white, and red. Alan had finally come into the picture to use his sling to give a bit of damage to the staff. Even though it wasn’t much, the progress of the health of the Evil Magician was declining rapidly towards half.

Whenever Jack used his skill, Hammer Falls on the staff, the cracks grew three times faster than any one of Agnis, Zero, or Zeraph’s attacks.

The evil magician once again brought from their shadows the tendrils that immobilized them. After the tendrils were brought forth, black needles followed, camouflaged behind the tendrils’ attacks, making it very difficult for them to see if there were two attacks instead of one.

This time both Zero and Zeraph were back-to-back surrounded by black tendrils. “It would be a great time for you to change.” Zeraph said with a strained voice towards Zero.

“I know. I have one minute till the cool down time is over.” Zero replied, hacking away at the tendrils and getting nicked by the black needles. The evil magician was pushing them all into a corner with its area attack. The more they chipped away at the boss’s health, the more it sent out its attack to isolate them by themselves.

“Leech’s Conversion!” The evil magician screamed. He pointed towards Alan. A black eerie glow wrapped around the staff and let out an unholy cry.

Alan felt shivers running up and down his back as he felt his life threatened. Black arrows shot out like strings, he ran, dodged, and even cursed trying to get away from the black arrows. In moments, the arrows impaled Alan in his heart, green energy burst forth as he felt his pulse slowly die down.

“Alan!” Agnis yelled, she was busy hacking away at the black tendrils that were surrounding her. Furiously trying to fight her way out and get to Alan.

Zero could see Alan’s face quickly draining to white. He noticed it was not a regular Mana drain where it took just one’s mana, but seemed to affect Alan’s performance and even his health. “Three.” He swung his sword cutting the black tendrils in half. “Two.” He breathed in a deep breath ready. “One.”

With his last word Zero shifted into his Origin form, he impatiently willed his transformation to switch over as quickly as possible, but the shift did not change from its usual ten seconds change.

Zero inhaled so deeply, he almost choked on his own breath. In his mind, he shouted and activated the skill “Holy Flame.” Blue, white, and dark blue flames wavered and appeared before Zero, spreading their cleansing flames around him as if it was baptizing the ground with holy water.

The blazing inferno of fire purified the surrounding area, where the once black tendrils stood. Zero ran forward towards Alan like a mad bull towards its target. He blew holy fire once more, even encompassing Alan in it. The fire bypassed Alan as if he did not exist and instead burned away the black arrow that was pierced in his heart.

With jaws open, Zero snatched Alan by his clothes and ran forward away from the boss. Dropping him a good distance away from the boss, Zero returned towards the fight. He did not have time to watch over Alan completely, but he knew he would be alright. Paying close attention, he noticed the black tendrils did not reach very far.

Agnis also covered her sword in blue flames, and sliced through the black tendrils like butter. “We can’t keep doing this. Our health will drop before he dies.” She dashed forward and attacked the boss once again. Her sword blazed with fury on impact with the magician’s staff as one tried to overcome the other. The cracks grew larger on the staff, but Agnis was still pushed back till the point she was flung backwards into Zeraph.

“For crying out loud, even though the boss is not moving around as much he is still overpowering us.” Jack called out while completely getting rid of the black tendrils around him. “I need some health recovery at this rate.” He was not pleased at the rate that they were depleting the evil magician’s health. Rummaging through his bag, he pulled out a wine that he had plunded from the wine cellar.

All attacks from the Evil Magician stopped in seconds, his demeanor changed when he saw Jack pull out his favorite vintage wine. “Is that my 150 years old grape wine that I had personally took the pains to gather?” He stuttered.

“This?”Jack asked, while he raised the wine up towards the evil magician. He popped the bottle and took a whiff of it. “This actually smells really nice.”

“Wa-ai-it. You’re not go-o-ing to drink it are you?” The evil magician asked. He was already faltering from seeing his favorite wine in the hands of his enemy.

“Well, I’m debating on it right now. By how you’re reacting it seems you’re interested in it as well.” Jack saw Agnis, Zeraph, and Zero creeping toward the evil magician.

“We can talk about this. Just pass me my wine.” The evil magician Mano motioned towards Jack. Trying to coax Jack to change his mind in drinking the wine all together.

“Well about that-” Jack slowly raised the wine towards his mouth, while the evil magician stared with complete loss to see his wine about to be drunk.

From all three sides Agnis, Zeraph, and Zero sprung towards him.

“Black Storm!” Zeraph yelled with his blade in his sheathe. In seconds, the blade was pulled out to increase the speed of his attack.

“Holy Wrath!” Agnis pulled out her second sword from the back of her hip and blue flames also encased the second sword.

Zero thought, Holy Fire, and blew a torrent of blue flames down upon the evil magician.

The evil magician snapped out of his stupor from Jack’s behavior and he raised his staff over his head trying to block all three attack. He was too late in blocking the attack and the staff snapped and splintered into a thousand pieces.

“Nooooooooooooooo!” The evil magician Mano screamed as he frantically tried to catch the black Krustallos in the air.

Zero took this chance, and caught the Black Krustallos first with his mouth.

“How dare you!” Like a kid throwing a tantrum, the evil magician stomped his feet over and over again.

“He’s not dead yet. His health is in the red!” Agnis exclaimed. She was ready to attack once again, but was weary about what the evil magician will do next. Whenever bosses or monsters health is in the red, they all knew that a desperate last attempt of an attack that could wipe them all out could be used.

“You dare! You dare! You dare make fun of the great magician Mano, the greatest magician of all time?” The evil magician’s wailing intensified to the point of him screeching at that top of his lungs. Power radiated around him, while an array of thousands of black needles appeared before him. At first only tens, then twenty, thirty, and finally the rest went hurtling towards everyone.

Zeraph was able to defend three-forth of the attacks that was aimed towards him, but the rest did some serious damage to his health. Agnis was running around the whole room trying to get away from the attacks as best as she could, while using the terrain to her advantage to get half of the black needles to crash into it, but the rest she had to defend with her swords. Even still she could not defend against them all. Jack had to quickly stash away the wine and defend for his life. He was not as fast as either Zeraph or Agnis, but he struck his hammer onto the floor to break apart a large slab of the earth that blocked a third of the attacks. Eventually the earth slab broke apart and the rest came through.

Alan and Bob was hidden away behind the desk watching the whole thing play out before them. He knew that he would not be much help at this point, and if he died now he would lose all his experience points, levels, and what he had come with Zero to do. Complete his mission.

Zero on the other hand spit out the black Krustallos into his hand. He stood his ground and breathed in a deep breath and blew out his regular hot red flames towards the oncoming attack, trying to burn them to crisp. At first the black needles passed through, and majority made it close to him but eventually burned away at the last second.

The black magician continued to send out waves of black needles like a thunder storm. The Black Krustallos in his hand activated from his touch, and streams of black aura-like fire mingled with his fire, slowly darkening his red fire into pitch black.

New skill has been activated. Dark Fire. Dark Fire. Beginner level 1

A fire made from the element of darkness. The element of dark fire has an unstable, uncontrollable, but powerful offensive attack. Be careful not to let darkness overcome your heart or the power of darkness will drive you into a chaos mode. In chaos mode, you will lose your health and mana from the overabundance of dark energy causing severe pain, but all attacks will increase by two folds. The penalty for going into chaos mode is that you will not have any control over your body, you will not be able to tell from friend or foe, and will have a two day penalty in death before you can be resurrected if you die. Only specifically for Origin and Hybrid form.

“Nooo! This can’t be!” The evil magician screamed. He was being overpowered by Zero’s new ability. All the attacks shifted towards Zero giving Jack, Zeraph, and Agnis a chance to break away from the storm of black needles and attack the evil magician. “How?! How are you able to use the power of the Krustallos!”

Zero did not answer, and continued to breathe out a different set of fire than he normally did. The fire was more chaotic, more fierce, and more uncontrollable than his regular fire and his Holy fire. It even burned his allies when they got too close to Dark Fire.

With each step he took, the closer he got towards the evil magician Mano. He had to be careful on not burning his allies.

“Hammer Falls!” Jack’s hammer came flying from the back of the evil Magician Mano.

“Holy Wrath!” Agnis’ dual sword attacked from the right.

“Black Storm!” Zeraph’s attack came from the left.

With a final breath of Dark Fire, Zero directly attacked from the front.

“You can’t do this to me! Noooooooo!” The Evil Magician Mano raised up his hand trying to cover himself in a last ditch of effort.

The Evil Magician Mano was pushed back and finally defeated.

You have level up.

Everyone gained around three levels. Zero shifted over into his human form and reached over to pick up two items. He checked the Black Krustallos in his hands and the loot he has gotten.

“Identify.”

Black Krustallos

All information about the Black Krustallos is unknown, but it is a known fact that it is from a Drezo Regalia. There seems to be an eerie life energy coming from the Krustallos. All who touches the Krustallos that is not a Drezo Regalia would be pulled into its dark energy and get contaminated by it.

Pendant of Dorion

Level requirement 120

A necklace made from a falling meteorite. Legend said that weapons, armors, and accessories made from the stars have an unusual power that could be considered a hidden blessing. An unknown magician had made this necklace for his future wife. Only females may wear this item.

+ 10 wisdom

+ 1% decrease in using mana when casting spells.

Ritual Dagger Cannon

Level requirement 125

A dagger used during a ceremony when slaughtering animals. Countless deaths of animals have given this dagger an unusual ability to siphon in a bit of the animal’s life like a vampire to power the blade. Not many like the feeling of the blade in their hands, especially a holy warrior or priest.

+ 1% chance of draining 500 health from an opponent

+ 7 luck

Kiyro even checked his status menu. Since the last time he had checked his information window, there were a large increase in his abilities.

Name: Zero

Title: Beacon of Hope, Neighborhood Child Finder

Race: Drezo Regalia

(human form)

Level: 154 Main Job: Record Keeper of Historia

Secondary Job: Scribe

Health points: 8,501 Mana Points: 9,761 Attack: 688 (+65)

Defense: 346 (+38)

Agility: 550 (+5)

Endurance: 450 (+5)

Luck: 70 (+15)

Leadership: 120 (+5)

Magical Attack: 950 (+5)

Magical Defense: 750 (+5)

Wisdom: 602 (+5)

Intelligence: 450 (+5)

Dexterity: 556 (+5)

Fame: 1150 (+20)

Under a Friendship Contract with Agnis.

For All:

+ Transform beginner level 8 (35%)

+Third Eye beginner level 1

+Telepathy

+ Intimidation

+ Camouflage beginner level 8 (60%)

+ Skilled hand mastery beginner level 9 (80%)

+ Kicking Mastery beginner level 9 (88%)

+ Keen Hearing beginner level 8 (28%)

+ Communication with the dead (Active)

+ Sensing the dead (Active)

+ The last stand (Auto)

+ Creation of Medicine

+Creation of Occulus-Morpheus beginner level 3 (2%)

+ Recording of O.M

+ Destruction of O.M

+ Restoration of O.M

Human Form Specialties:

+ Trinity Falls

+ Ninjitsu Training for Mastery

+ Five Elements of Hiding: Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Void (Auto)

+ Weapon Mastery beginner level 5 (77%)

+ Pressure points beginner level 5 (35%)

+ Herbology

+ Creation of Medicine

Hybrid form Specialties:

+ All the abilities of the Human and Origin Form can be used.

Origin Form Specialties:

+ Stink Bomb beginner level 9 (50%)

+ Exploding Breath beginner level 5 (20%)

+ Fire Breath beginner level 9 (25%)

+ Keen Nose beginner level 8 (70%)

+ Crush beginner level 7 (20%)

+ Dark Fire beginner level 1 (5%)

+ Holy Fire beginner level 2 (55%)

Elements: 15% increase of defense against dark elements, 7% increase of defense against light elements Info: A hybrid human that is born from an Egg. The title Beacon of hope draws in lost souls that will appear before you to ask for help. Your aura will stand out to the dead. Shadowy dark apparitions are wary around you. There are no more bounty set on your head. In Origin form, the status is doubled from the human form.

Zero closed all windows. “Agnis. Here.” He handed the necklace to Agnis. He could not wear the necklace anyways because only females could.

“Thanks.” Agnis happily received the sparkling pendant in her hand and wore it.

“Alan, here. I think this might be best for you in the future.”

Alan who was hiding behind the table with Bob stood up and walked over. “For me? I barely did anything.”

“You’re part of the team. With this you will not die so easily and can take part in a battles more frequently. A life of a merchant is a struggle, but with this you will be able to protect yourself better when you are alone.” This was Zero’s thought, he knew merchants did not have the necessary strength to fight forever in large battles. Even someone who was too weak to take part would be able to either stall or help decrease the health of their opponent. Plus Zero did not like seeing people stand around and do nothing. “With that Jack and Zeraph is next if there are any rare loots.”

Now Zero did not have to worry about splitting items with Alan and Agnis when it came to rare items.

Alan was touched by Zero’s words. He did not expect to gain anything in the boss battle, because he stood on the sidelines watching the whole fight play out. He was amazed at all of his teammates performance To him it was like watching a movie play out in front of him. He couldn’t help but be envious of wanting to join in the fight throughout the whole battle, but he knew that he would have died quicker than the rest.

Zero put away the Black Krustallos into his Zenith pouch. The only information that he had gotten from it was that it was an actual Drezo Regalia crystal. How the Evil Magician had obtained it, he was not sure. All he knew was that the black Krustallos warped the Magician’s mind and changed the magician into an evil being. The crystal wasn’t something to casually give away, especially because it was now a part of his species.

Bob ran forward excited towards Zero. His eyes was sparkling with admiration. “As expected of the young dragon. You have freed us all!” He danced around Zero.

Zero noticed a slight change around Bob, where Bob seemed to have a more vibrant glow around him.

“Where does he keep all the loot that you stole?” Zero asked. He wanted to see the wealth of the Evil Magician Mano.

“This way. This way!” Bob dashed forward towards the back of the desk where he hid. He pressed a button underneath the desk and a door slid open from behind the bookcase.

Everyone followed after, curious at what they would see. When they entered, they stood speechless at what they saw. They couldn’t believe their eyes. There was no gold at all. Instead there were stacks of books, scrolls, and ancient documents that had been collected over time.

“Where’s the g-g-gold?” asked Alan stupefied. This whole time he was expecting to see a large mound of gold that the leprechauns had horded away, but instead was something else entirely.

“What gold?” Bob tilted his head confused. “Oh. Magician Mano used the income of travelers and our gold to buy a different variety of ingredients for his monster experiments, but our task mostly were stealing books, papers, and any form of writing. He did not need gold, he was after the wealth of knowledge.”

“That would make sense why my magic scrolls were taken,” Alan slowly shook his head.

“Over there should be your things.” Bob pointed towards a small pile in the corner.

Zero walked over and picked up his map.

Then he turned around and went over to check out the books. He picked up a book in hand and when done skimming through it, he would put it away into his Zenith pouch. He knew that these books would be beneficial to the Draconis Library.

The great adventures of the Holy Knight Raphael. 101 ways to use fire. The history of the Eleven Lords. Orc’s injustice. Medicine of today.

Zero opened the book entitled Medicine of Today. Hundreds of different diagrams of mixtures of different types of medicine were neatly written. He was elated to find a book on making different medicines that had never been seen before.

Quickly putting the book into his Zenith bag, he searched through the stacks of books, scrolls, and ancient documents searching for more medicine books. He only was able to find three more as the rest were mostly histories of different past cultures, kings, wars, magic, and new skills for other branches of jobs.

“If you guys don’t mind, I would like to take all these books for the Draconis Library.”

“Draconis Library?” Alan asked.

“The flying library near the town square,” Zeraph said, while he was skimming through a books.

“That library?” Alan eyes went wide. “Are you doing a quest for them or something?”

“No. Just thought it would be a great benefit to bring these books there.”

“Public service?” Jack was wondering as well.

“He is the owner of the Library.” Zeraph replied. “I learned that from Garrett. One of the Lunar Rabbits.”

“No way. You’re the owner of the flying library. How were you able to obtain the Royal Library without getting in trouble with Royalty,” asked Alan flabbergasted.

“Well that’s a long story. To make a long story short, the Draconis Library was actually A Drezo Regalia building and the king was just watching over it. So I have the legal right, but to obtain it completely I have to do one task for the king and that is the quest that Agnis has brought you guys into.”

“Wow, You must be the first person to own a library. I thought owning a house was a big thing, but a library? That’s a completely different unique factor in itself.” Alan shook his head. “Well then, it would be right for you to take these books to store in the library. Well if you don’t mind, I would like to take a couple of peeks in these books. There might be something useful in them.”

“Go ahead.” Zero motioned them to look through them. Zeraph, Agnis, Alan, and Jack were able to learn a couple of new skills through the books. They helped organized the books so it would be easier for Zero to put them away into his bag without having to look through all of them.

“Hey Zero, you might want to check this out.” Agnis raised a very old and tattered brown book. The design of the page was a bit difficult to make out, but there were a small dragon logo situated in the center.

“What is it?” Zero took the book from Agnis’ hand.

“You’ll know what it is once you read it.”

Skimming through the tattered pages, he noticed variety of pictures of different colored dragons. There were a total of eight dragons: Silver, Gold, Black, Green, Bronze, White, Red, and Blue. Each dragons had its own unique features and designs.

The first page was the Red Dragon. The size of a red dragon was large as a two story building. Its slim face with two horns jutting out on its head. Scales that radiated like rubies, and a short tail. Two wings jutted out of its back and was lazily sitting on top of mounds of gold. To Zero, these were the dragons that he would see in medieval time paintings.

The ferocious red dragon is a dragon that loves gold out of all the dragons. Humans, Dwarves, and even elves have gone to war to steal the bountiful gold of the red dragons. Thousands of lives have been lost to the fury of the red dragon. They are known to have a keen sense in business and have made many contracts with fellow merchants who sought them out. There have been many cases where the business of the merchants have been blessed immensely from the help of the red dragons, but if betrayal arises between greedy merchants, instant death follows after.

The next page was the White Dragon. The white dragon’s size was a lot smaller compared to the red dragon, and was only as large as a horse. Their sleek long body and wings was especially made for speed. Their horns were not grand like the Red dragon but instead were small. To Zero they reminded him a bit like Chinese dragons. They did not have extra large teeth like the red dragon nor unnecessary muscles. On the page, the dragon looked like it was constantly in motion, never stopping like a hummingbird.

A white dragon is known for its speed. The casting time rate of magical attacks of a white dragon is considered the fastest out of all the races, but their magical attacks are not considered the strongest. They love to play pranks, and enjoys the quick pace of life darting from one place to another. They have a tendency to not stay still and instead loves to travel around. Many have mistaken a white dragon to be a holy dragon even though they do have some skill in holy magics.

Following after was Silver dragon sitting next to a elven king with its arms crossed in front of him. Their face were more sublime and graceful. Their wings were larger with more webbing. The silver dragon seemed to fit perfectly next to the elven king, both beautiful and mesmerizing. There was a patch of fur like hair around his head and neck with a pair of horns on its elbows and the back of its heels and tail.

There have been sightings of Silver dragons next to many famous kings. Their social skills and communication skills are considered outstanding. All Silver dragons are known to be seen as advisers to kings, queens, lords, and even hero’s. Many come to seek the vast knowledge of the Silver dragons and their wisdom. They enjoy being around fresh minds, scholars, magicians, and generally people who like to think. It is a known fact that the Silver dragons has influenced history in a positive direction

On the page of the Bronze dragon, there are groups of smaller dragons that seem to be listening to the Bronze dragon speaking. The bronze dragon’s size was not as large as the red, nor small as the white. It was in between the red and the sliver in size. Its tail was twice as long as normal, with its snout shorter than the other dragons.

The Bronze dragon is seen commonly near hubs, bars, town squares, and places where normally a lot of people like to congregate. They are known to have the most beautiful voice out of all the dragon race. Even though they like to talk and socialize a lot, they are considered the best musicians, storytellers, and dancers. Their stories and songs are renowned throughout the world of Noriene. Some say that there music has the power to stir different species hearts into one.

As Zero turned the page, a Black furious dragon stood barring its teeth with its alligator like jaws and wings. Smoke curled out of its nose and its eyes were red as blood. Zero’s hair stood on end when he looked at the black dragon. The black dragon was as large as a castle, deadly spikes grew out of its back, sides of its face, and even on their elbows. Large sharp horns decorated its head, making the black dragon even more intimidating.

The black dragon is known for being the most ruthless dragon of all the dragons. They are gifted and specialize in war, combat, and destruction. They are commonly seen in wars directing and commanding large forces or even taking part in battle. The world sees them as bloodthirsty monsters and an evil that needs to be destroyed because they put fear in their enemy’s heart. But they are not evil creatures. They are warriors that can handle the power of the dark element. There are rare instances where there are black dragons that have converted to the path of evil, but the majority just like being around wherever war is situated. There is a saying that when a black dragon descends in battle and chooses a side, the side that the dragon chooses always wins. Black dragons specialize in dark magic and especially necromancy. They have a natural dislike to Gold dragons. Out of all the races of dragons, the gold dragon is the only dragon that can equally fight on par with a black dragon.

Continuing on with the next page, a picture of a Blue dragon taking a dip in the ocean. Their sapphire like scales, webbed feet, claws, and even had webbing on their back and side of their face. Blue dragons wings were snugly tucked to their back. The blue dragon’s size was equivalent to the size of a red dragon.

Blue dragons are natural swimmers. They love to be around water and are seen in lakes and the ocean. Illusion magic and water magic is their specialties, they are known to save sailors from drowning. There is a saying that seeing a blue dragon swimming in the ocean will bring favorable wind to the ship and even luck. They are natural born leaders, great strategists, and have a knack for finding lost things.

A Green dragon picture shows the dragon lazily sleeping in a forest with animals surrounding it. Their scales radiate like emeralds, and moss and plants grow on their scales. Its wings were tightly tucked to its back. The dragon looked slightly aged, but still looked good in its prime.

The green dragon has a natural affinity to nature. They are slow to anger and slow to move unless necessary. Their specialties lies in the ability to use all aspects of different elements equally. The only problem with having equal amount of magic with different elements is that there is no special skill that overpowers the others. Balance is the key for the green dragon. Green dragons always seem to be surrounded by creatures and animals. There motto is to protect the weak and destroy anything that harms nature. Green dragons are not easily found. They are rumored to be hidden in forest, mountains, and even lakes. They are known to be the oldest living dragons of them all and some have seen green dragon as big as a mountain.

The final page with words on it depicted the Gold dragon. Out of all the dragons, the gold dragon was covered with bright sunlight. Its wings expanded outwards, and majestically stood proudly on a cliff. Its scales were more like feathers and horns that were like a crown. Gold pupils that seemed to glow with wisdom, kindness, and ferocity like a noble lion.

The golden Dragon, the Lion Dragon, the messenger, the holy dragon, the caretaker, the leader, and even the King of all dragons. The gold dragon has many famous names, they are seen as one of the many creatures of light. There are not many gold dragons born in the dragon species because of their low fertility rate. Only one out of thousands of eggs develops into a gold dragon. Their magic mainly lies in holy magic. Their size does not grow bigger than a small castle, but their power is the strongest out of all the dragons while rivaling equally with the black dragons.

Finishing reading the last excerpt, Zero flipped on wards and noticed the rest of the pages were just more drawings of the eight dragon races. He did not know if these dragons were natural dragons or actual Drezo Regalias, until he came to the last page.

The True dragons gave powers to a select few special groups of human to become and live like them.

This was the answer that he was looking for. A clue of what a Drezo Regalia was. All once humans changed to become a dragon, but why Zero did not know. A dragon giving power to a human, there needed to be a reason. He sighed.

Zero learned a lot about the different true dragon races. He now realized that there were different Drezo Regalia that took the same respected power and look of the True Dragons. But then it hit him, there hasn’t been a picture anywhere in the book about what kind of dragon he was. He was still a mystery.

This book was a jewel in itself for Zero, already answering a part of his many questions. Agnis walked over and rested her hand on his shoulder.

“I knew you would like it.” Agnis smiled. “Did it answer your question?”

“Yes and no. Just more questions now.” Zero was disappointed. He wanted to know more, but there wasn’t anything else to satisfy his curiosity. “Let’s finish packing these books away and get back. We’ve got a quest to finish.”

Everyone had begun to wrap things up.