“It’s time to tell me the whole truth and everything you know.” I addressed Raimeiryuu.

“You’re too eager for knowledge.” He replied

“What you know is aligned with what I need to know to move on.”

“The incident with your parents and the recent events with the demons, right?”

“Yeah, and even the existence of the Mythological Weapons and monsters never seen before.” I nodded my head.

“Let me tell you this first. Since I was sealed inside the sword, even my memories were sealed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess I should explain to you first how the weapons work.” He said. “As I told you before, on each Mythological Weapon, a strong entity is sealed, and the weapons themselves were sealed in special dungeons made by humans. They were built in a way that when all the conditions were met, the dungeon would choose a chosen Warrior and give him the weapon to use. When that happens, the weapons were made so that the chosen warrior can unlock the powers of the entity within, without interacting with it, and as he grows stronger, he can develop that power until he harnesses all the power of that entity and become one with it.”

“What you told me right now doesn’t apply to you since we’re talking like this, right?”

“Yeah, in my case, they couldn’t completely seal me, so I managed to break through a part of the seal and impacted the choosing process, and made it so I can link my soul and mind with the chosen Warrior. Unfortunately, my memories were completely sealed and I only managed to grab a few things before that happened, but I can undo the seal eventually and remember everything. For the time being, I will tell you what I know in this state. In addition, you don’t have to worry about me disappearing again. I absorbed enough mana to manifest this form and link my mind to yours at any time. ”

“I think it is better than nothing, so please go ahead and tell me what you know.”

“I’ll tell you first about the races that existed before so that you wouldn’t be surprised when you meet them inside the dungeons.”

“Are you implying that they still live there?”

“Yes, they were not completely eradicated. They were also sealed and waiting for the right time to get out, and if they do, they will get their revenge against the human-like races.”

“This means that we have to worry about other potential enemies apart from the demons at this rate.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“So, who are these races?”

“There were twelve races in the past; humans, dwarves, elves, and giants were the four human-like races that still exist until now. Beastmen, insectoids, and merfolks were the three worldly creature races. The ogres and the vampires were the afterworld races, and the dragons, angels, and demons were the ancient races. “

“Vampires? Angels? I only heard about them in legends and fantasy stories.”

“They existed. I can’t remember what has happened to them, but they were two of the mightiest races back in my days.”

“You’ve also said beastmen, insectoids, merfolks, and ogres were races that lived in this world, but we consider them now as only monsters that spawn from the dungeons.”

“Yes, they were part of this world, and they were citizens of different countries, living the same way as you do. Since they are part of the dungeons now, then the secret to what happened to them lies with the existence of the dungeons. Unfortunately, you have to discover that secret by yourself.”

“Then what’s the role of the demons in all of this?”

“The demons ruled over the underworld. They never had an interest in the surface world, until the seven demon lords took over the underworld and decided to wage war against the other races. From the information and memories that I managed to keep intact after they were defeated and sealed in the underworld, a demon prophet prophesized that one day they will get out and wreak havoc in the world.”

“And that day is soon to come right?”

“Yes, since you’ve already met some demons, they seem to be preparing for that Great War.”

“I feel like I was just struck by lightning. All of this information is overwhelming.”

“I understand. It is not easy to digest everything right now. Take your time until you put all the cogs in your head.”

“Yeah, you are right. Can you tell me now about the powers of the Mythological Weapons?”

“Yeah, I still know about them. The weapons were designed that when a chosen user gets a weapon, the powers sealed inside are injected into him and the knowledge on how to use it is directly sent to his mind, like how I did to you last time against that demon. Getting the powers doesn’t mean you can master everything in the get-go, it takes time to learn everything, and there are things that you need to train for and grow stronger to use.”

“I understand, so this is only a portion of the potential powers that I can master.”

“Yes, you have to train hard to unlock more techniques.”

“The first time I met Vladimir, he mentioned something about transformations?”

“The transformations are the secret abilities that a Mythological Weapon user can manifest. There are three stages, and on each stage, you get to further merge with the creature sealed inside the weapons.”

“Damn, I still have a long way to go.”

“Yeah, but don’t rush things, with proper training and experience, you’ll get what you need.”

“One final question; do you know who are the other creatures sealed inside the other weapons?”

“Yeah, all the sealed creatures were lords of their own races; the vampire lord, the ogre lord, the beastmen chief, the insectoids queen, the giants’ lord, the dwarfs’ king, and elves queen.”

“Adding you, there are only eight.”

“Yeah, because there were two exceptions, an archangel, and a god.”

“A god? Gods exist?”

“Yeah, but they only oversee the world, they don’t participate in what happens. The god who was sealed participated alongside the merfolks in the war. He is the god of oceans, Poseidon.”

“You were right, I need time to accept everything you told me so far, and to some extent, I’m glad that I can find what I’m looking for by myself. I hesitated at first before asking you, and with this information dump, I have to reconsider my next moves… Ah yes, I forgot to show you something.”

I brought out two items from my inventory and laid them in front of the old dragon.

“What is this?”

“This is an orc’s skin and the other is a demon’s needle. I got the first when I cleared the Orc’s village dungeon a few weeks ago, and I found the second one in my inventory while I was browsing it when I was at the hospital last week.”

“Were you the only one who got something like this?”

“Yeah, I was the only one. There is no description and only question marks on the item’s screen, even the grade is unknown. I started getting them from dungeons after I acquired the Dragon Sword.”

“I don’t know what these items are. You should keep them for yourself, and maybe later you’ll get more items like these, and eventually, you’ll find their meanings.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Before you leave, I think you should drop by occasionally here to train on the dragon techniques. I will supervise your growth by myself.”

“That would be a big help, thank you.”

When I opened my eyes, it was already morning.

I took a quick shower and ate breakfast while watching the news. It was getting out of hand. There were even stories saying that I stole the Mythological Weapon and I was just a fraud. That elder is doing a fantastic job at dirtying my reputation.

Fortunately, I decided to seclude inside the dojo to train for the next months until I am ready to face any hurdles, while also training with the old dragon.

“By the way, I find it weird that the media didn’t storm this place yet,” I muttered.

I went to look at one of the nearest windows and only saw a few people going through the road in front of my house.

“I’m sure people saw me yesterday head into this house. What has happened?”

While I was thinking about this weird phenomenon, I heard the house’s bell rung. I opened the door and saw Vladimir, and immediately connected the dots.

“Was this your doing?”

“Isn’t it convenient?”

“Too convenient. How did you do it?”

“It’s easy. I hired someone and made him dress like you and with a few tricks; he managed to pull everyone away from you. He’s traveling now to the Central area.”

“That’s genius. So what brings you here?”

“I thought that maybe you needed a ride to Asahi-no-Kuni, so I found someone interested in taking you there.”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

“But you needed it, right?”

“Well, no lies about it. Thank you for your support. So, who is this guy interested in me?”

“You’ll get to meet him soon, just tell me when you want to go and leave the rest to me.”

“I was planning on going this afternoon.”

“Then I’ll come to pick you up after lunch.”

“I appreciate it. By the way, what do you gain from all of this?”

“I’m just betting my pieces on someone interesting. Isn’t it fun this way?”

The deadly trickster is a fitting name for you.”

“It’s my honor.” He took his hat, bowed a little, and disappeared.”

That afternoon, after I packed everything I needed, I left the house and saw him waiting on a big motorcycle.

“Say hello to the MAD KILLER.”

“What a weird name.”

Suddenly I noticed that people were passing by without minding the two Mythological Weapon users that were casually standing in the street.

“Did you do something?”

“Haha, this is one of my skills, ‘Slaying Room’. It makes outside interference impossible, and it is one of the best assassination skills.”

“And you’re using it like this. What a waste of abilities.”

“It is convenient, right? “ He threw me a helmet and took me to the meeting place.

***

It took us an hour of traveling to get to the meeting place. It was near a factory’s remains in the north of my town.

When we stopped, I saw a huge man approaching us. He was around 5 meters tall. He was wearing a grey hoodie and black jeans. His head and eyebrows were shaved. If a little kid saw his face, he would get nightmares for days, if not weeks.

“Hey Vladimir, you’ve finally arrived.” The mysterious giant waved his hand to Vlad.

“That’s Nobura Keisuke, he’s a Mythological Weapon user, like us. He’s also my guildmate.”

“You must be the newbie. I’ve been waiting to meet you. My name is Keisuke. I’m the user of the Giant Shield.” He brought out his weapon to show it to me.

It was a gigantic shield. It was at least double my height. Like the dragonhead at the hilt of my sword, the shield had a face statue at the center of it. It had some weird spikes like things at the sides and carvings all around its plate.

“That’s massive.”

“Yeah, this shield saved me and my teammates countless times. It is the perfect defensive and offensive weapon. Nothing can compare to its defensive strength apart from the Aegis.”

The Aegis is a Legendary grade weapon that is still kept inside the Legends Museum in Central area. It contains all the unused Legendary items that were collected through the centuries.

“So how will we be able to travel to Asahi-no-Kuni?”

“Well, that would be my job.” I heard a voice coming from the destroyed entrance of the factory.

“My name is Roger, I’m an A-rank JT from the Saber Slayer guild. I can use teleportation abilities. Vladimir told me about your circumstances and I am glad to help someone he deems to be interesting.”

“Won’t General Guild find out about a big-scale teleportation magic being used?” I questioned.

“That’s where we both come in.” Replied Keisuke. “I will use my shield to disrupt the mana fluctuation and Vladimir will use his ‘Slayer Room’ to make us disappear.”

“I’ll accept your offer. Thanks a lot for your help.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Vladimir tapped on my back. “Let’s get moving.”

I gave them the GPS coordinates of the closest place to the dojo where I was going, and we were immediately teleported there without making a single noise.”

After bidding them goodbye and thanking them again. I wore my dojo attire and my black glasses, took out a wooden sword from my inventory, and marched towards the gates of the dojo.