novelraw Chapter 260
Chapter 260
Chapter 260: Covered in Silver Markings
Using the Demon Repelling Sword at full power almost twice in a row had completely exhausted Xia Li.
Although using divine artifacts didn’t consume magic power, the physical and mental exhaustion was astonishing.
He slept for another afternoon before recovering.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already sunset.
The dragon beside him was gone, but the berries at the head of the bed were still there.
Xia Li ate the berries and went to find his clothes, only to discover that his clothes and coat had been washed by the dragon and were hanging outside, fluttering in the wind.
It was understandable. The place yesterday was smelly and dirty. Not to mention Lucia the dragon couldn’t stand the smell, even people with a poor sense of smell would be overwhelmed.
After struggling to find a pair of pants to wear, Xia Li couldn’t find any other clothes and had to go downstairs with his upper body bare.
After completing the contract with Lucia yesterday, Xia Li felt that all his senses had been enhanced. Even while still in the corridor, he could hear the gurgling sound of water being drawn from the well, the chatter of women and old people, the crackling of burning firewood, and the laughter of the stinky dragon playing with children in the distance.
It wasn’t just his hearing; his sense of smell, touch, and vision were also heightened.
If he focused, he could even see the dust particles floating in the air.
“Huh……?”
Something was wrong.
Xia Li raised his hand, feeling the particles of light dust landing on his palm.
One, two particles… Xia Li looked up and saw countless, immeasurable particles of light dust covering everything within his sight.
Even if Qingcheng City’s PM2.5 was magnified, it wouldn’t have such a large number.
If this was really dust, he would undoubtedly choke to death.
So……
This wasn’t dust, but magic power.
Lucia didn’t explain anything to him yesterday. Once the contract was over, she just left without a word, like a carefree dragon, leaving him to deal with the aftermath.
It was Xia Li himself who felt the transfer of half of her lifespan and asked about it.
Perhaps, after receiving half of the giant dragon’s power, Xia Li’s affinity for magic had also been supercharged?
Thinking this, Xia Li raised his hand and made a very chuunibyou gesture.
He clenched his fist in the air and shouted, “Ha!”
In the end, nothing happened except for the uncle hammering wood looking at him with a puzzled expression.
“Cough……”
Xia Li awkwardly left the scene.
Even if he had an affinity for magic power, learning magic was another matter entirely.
Complex spells and formations were also significant obstacles for human magicians when learning magic.
Xia Li recalled the painful days when his mentor forced him to learn magic. He knew he had absolutely no talent in magic.
Learning magic was something he would do if he had the opportunity, but he wouldn’t force it.
Xia Li’s talent lay elsewhere.
After these few trials, he could be absolutely sure—
His ‘golden finger’ wasn’t the Demon Repelling Sword, but his ‘affinity for divine artifacts’.
Wuqi’s previous speculation about him was correct.
“Sister, you know magic!”
“Such amazing magic!”
From a few hundred meters away.
Xia Li heard the cheers of children coming from the farmland outside the town.
Looking closely, he saw the energetic evil dragon waving a branch and chanting something.
“I call upon the water of the abyss, gather the light of the moon, condense the frost arrow, break the dawn between night… Water element, obey my command, the power of the western sea, surge!”
Lucia chanted a jumbled spell.
As she waved the branch in her hand, the children’s heads swayed from side to side.
If this were on Earth, the dragon’s behavior would be that of a typical chuunibyou elementary school student.
But in the magical continent……
There really was a dense concentration of water elements gathering in front of her branch.
The water balls gathered more and more, finally bursting in mid-air and irrigating the crops.
“Wow~~ So amazing!”
The children couldn’t stop praising her.
In addition to the irrigation water magic, Lucia also demonstrated wind magic that could turn leaves green and light magic that could promote growth.
In the blink of an eye, the wheat seedlings grew more than ten centimeters. This scene stunned the children who had rarely seen magic.
Those big eyes looked at Lucia with admiration, and they all shouted, “I want to learn too!”
However, this atmosphere came to an abrupt end after Xia Li appeared.
The children turned their heads to look at him, their gazes sweeping over him before they ran away in fear.
Xia Li was puzzled.
He thought to himself, these kids should be afraid of the pure-blooded giant dragon standing in front of them, why are they afraid of him, a human?
Could it be because he wasn’t wearing a shirt?
It’s normal for little girls to be scared off by a shirtless man, but why are the boys running away too?
This wasn’t right.
Xia Li watched the children scatter and flee, frowning as he turned to look at Lucia.
“Hee hee~”
Lucia was laughing.
But she quickly thought of what had happened at noon, and her face turned red as she laughed.
“What did you tell them? Why are they afraid of me?” Xia Li walked over and asked in confusion.
The evil dragon shook her head. “Nothing, I didn’t tell them anything!”
Xia Li’s eyes were suspicious, but he didn’t ask further.
The kind-hearted landlady who was willing to take them in shouted for them to come back for dinner. Xia Li didn’t refuse and dragged Lucia along to enjoy a hearty meal.
Dinner in this town was simple, consisting of roasted potatoes and wild vegetable salad. Occasionally, when they were lucky, they could find a few bird eggs or catch a couple of small fish from the river.
Perhaps because they had guests today, there was an extra eight-inch wild fruit pie for dinner.
The children sitting around the table stared longingly at Xia Li. Xia Li wasn’t interested in the wild fruit pie and gave it all to the children.
Only then did the children put aside their ‘prejudice’ against Xia Li, becoming less afraid of him and daring to look at him more boldly.
“Sir……”
A little girl with braids timidly walked over and, mustering her courage, tugged at Xia Li’s sleeve.
“……Hmm?”
Xia Li turned around, filled with questions.
Why did they call Lucia ‘sister’ and him ‘sir’?
Prejudice! This was definitely prejudice.
If these brats called him ‘uncle’, he would be devastated.
Did he look that old???
Xia Li checked again and again. There was no stubble on his face, and his hair hadn’t turned white.
Except for his bare upper body because his clothes weren’t dry, he was a vibrant and positive young man!
“Sir, you……”
The little girl’s eyes darted around nervously as she stared at Xia Li’s back, then she mustered her courage and spoke again.
“Are you cursed?”
“Huh?”
“Xiao Ya, don’t be so rude, come here.”
The old woman on the other side of the table stopped the little girl.
The little girl scurried back to her mother’s side, not daring to say anything more to Xia Li.
“Pfft,”
The evil dragon, who was burying her head in her food, finally couldn’t hold back her laughter.
Coughing a few times, she finished the last piece of wild fruit pie in her hand.
Clapping her little hands, she was about to go back to her room upstairs when Xia Li grabbed her.
As soon as the dragon laughed, the alert Xia Li immediately sensed something was wrong.
“What did you do to me?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Lucia blinked her eyes innocently.
Xia Li turned around, looking at the spot where the little girl’s gaze had lingered.
There was nothing behind him.
But, with the help of the dim oil lamp in the room, Xia Li faintly saw some silver markings on his back.
What was that??
A tattoo?
Xia Li wasn’t sure. He grabbed the dragon and took her to the stream outside the town.
The industrial capacity of this other world was very backward. Mirrors were a luxury here. Ordinary people couldn’t even afford a bronze mirror, and they usually had to go to the river to look at their reflection.
This was the first time Xia Li had seen his own reflection since returning from the battlefield.
“Turn on the light,” Xia Li said to the dragon.
Lucia pouted and reluctantly raised a finger.
Light magic condensed at her fingertips, forming a light that was no less bright than an Earthly lamp.
Xia Li leaned over to look at his reflection in the water.
His face was OK, his arms were OK.
But when Xia Li turned around to look at his back—
He was dumbfounded.
No wonder those kids were afraid of him.
No wonder people couldn’t help but stare at him when he was walking around the street with his upper body bare.
This……
This full back of silver markings!
Looking closely, Xia Li found that the markings weren’t some kind of magic circle or ancient characters. Every stroke was strong and neat, three-dimensional and powerful under the night light.
As if the most skilled craftsman had poured all his life’s learning into it, with moon-like silver luster and life-infused curves, a lifelike painting was depicted on Xia Li’s back……
◈◈◈
A dragon.
To be precise, a silver dragon.
A silver dragon had imprinted its own markings on Xia Li.
It could also be abbreviated as: Silver Markings.
The silver dragon was identical to Lucia’s true form.
However, the dragon markings on Xia Li’s back were only silver, so they looked cold and sharp.
The piercing gaze, slightly open dragon pupils, and half-folded dragon wings all showcased the beauty and pride of this silver dragon.
“……”
Seeing the dragon markings covering his entire back and even extending to his shoulders, Xia Li fell into a long silence.
His first reaction was that, forget about entering public institutions, even slightly larger private companies probably wouldn’t hire him after an interview.
His second reaction: How was he going to explain this to Mrs. Fang and Old Xia?
He couldn’t just say that he went to Southeast Asia and was dragged into a shady tattoo parlor to get a full back tattoo, could he?
This wasn’t just a matter of being ruined by Lucia.
This was a mark!
A mark that would never fade for a lifetime!
Although it looked cool, kind of like a Blue-Eyes White Dragon repaint……
“This…… I can’t really say.”
Lucia, who was holding the light beside Xia Li, spoke up to explain.
“Maybe it’s something like a soul bond or a proof of contract…… Think about it, when humans summon demons, they also get a demon’s mark on them. It’s the same principle for us.”
Lucia finished her far-fetched explanation and added.
“I think it looks good, quite suitable for you!”
Mainly, this dragon looked exactly like her… No, it should be said that this dragon was her.
This was a unique dragon marking pattern that belonged to her.
Now that it was marked on Xia Li, she felt a sense of security, as if her prey was completely locked in and could never escape her grasp.
She just didn’t know if Xia Li liked it.
“You’re responsible for explaining it to my mom,” Xia Li said, turning his head.
He didn’t really care. He wouldn’t consider entering public institutions in the future anyway, and he could accept tattoos… He could reluctantly accept a full back tattoo.
The main problem was getting past his conservative parents.
“How am I supposed to explain it…… I don’t dare to,” the evil dragon said timidly.
Forget about modern people, even in the magical continent, such a full back dragon marking would make people stare.
Whether it looked good or not was one thing, but more importantly, it would be mistaken for some kind of curse or totem.
Maybe it was a little too eye-catching……
There was no other way. As the culprit, she had to take full responsibility.
“I’ll wash your clothes from now on!”
Lucia put one hand on her hip and said with a firm tone that implied, “I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life.”
“We’ll buy a dryer for the house in the future, so you’ll never be without clothes to wear!”
“Is that the point??” Xia Li facepalmed.
Forget it, forget it.
It was ruined, so be it.
He would get used to it after a few more times.
And……
It was really cool.
If he showed it to Chen Tao and the others, their jaws would drop.
This was much more sophisticated than tattoos on Earth.
After mentally preparing himself, Xia Li accepted this fact.
A lifetime of dragon markings, so be it.
Lucia had sacrificed half of her life. In comparison, it was nothing for Xia Li to offer his back for a tattoo.
He took Lucia back to the room.
Xia Li packed his luggage and collected all the clothes drying outside the window.
After sleeping all day, Xia Li wasn’t sleepy at night.
Lucia was even more energetic.
Since returning to the magical continent, Lucia’s strong body had been on full display. Xia Li had never seen her sleep soundly.
After weighing his options, Xia Li decided to set off tonight.
“Wait!”
Lucia had something to say before they left.
Xia Li thought the dragon was reluctant to part with her new friends or the local food.
But the dragon went straight downstairs and, without hesitation, dragged Xia Li by the hand to a well.
This was the town’s important source of water. The water used by the residents for their daily lives came from here.
“I used too much dragon breath before, I’m thirsty, I want to drink water!” Lucia whispered.
According to the law of conservation of magic, drinking the water created by magic wouldn’t quench her thirst, it would only be converted back into magic power.
In addition, the surrounding streams were polluted by the war, so Lucia had been thirsty all the way without replenishing her water.
So, before leaving, she wanted to drink her fill.
“Okay, I’ll get it for you.”
Xia Li didn’t hesitate and rolled up his sleeves.
The well in the town was the kind of hand-cranked well that Xia Li had seen in the countryside on Earth when he was a child. You just had to pull the lever back and forth a few times, and the well water would flow out from the spout.
This world had some alchemy technology, so it wasn’t surprising to see a hand-cranked well.
Xia Li cranked the handle a couple of times and was about to pick up the bucket by his feet to collect the water.
He turned around and saw a giant dragon head stretching towards him.
Lucia had transformed into her giant dragon form and was lying on the ground.
Her massive mouth, which could easily engulf Xia Li, was wide open, her head resting by his legs, her dragon pupils closed contentedly.
She looked a bit like a crocodile basking in the sun with its mouth open.
Xia Li: “……”
Xia Li couldn’t help but laugh when he thought that the image of this silly dragon was the majestic silver dragon on his back.
Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he grabbed the well handle and cranked it.
“Gurgling……”
An endless stream of groundwater was drawn up, the water flowing in a clear arc and starting to pour into the dragon’s mouth.
Xia Li cranked the well on one side, and the evil dragon opened her mouth to drink on the other.
After she had a mouthful, she swallowed with a “gulp”.
In this dark and windy night, the human and dragon felt a strange sense of stealth.
“How much more do you want to drink??”
Xia Li couldn’t take it anymore.
With Lucia’s water intake……
If this were on Earth, she could bankrupt someone just by drinking Nongfu Spring water.
It had to be measured in tons, right?
“Gulp, gulp……”
“You’re going to drain the well!”
Seeing that the water flow in the well was getting smaller and smaller, Xia Li started to get nervous.
If the residents of this town woke up the next day and found their well dry, they would never guess that it was a passing dragon who drank it all.
“Gulp……”
Lucia took a final gulp.
Then she stretched out her large claws and patted her slightly bulging dragon belly, letting out a satisfied burp.
“Xia Li, I’m pregnant.”
Xia Li: “……”
Pregnant with what?!
Who taught you that?!
Xia Li’s mouth twitched.
He wanted to say something sarcastic in response, but then he suddenly remembered the dragon-slaying weapon hidden in his bag, and he couldn’t speak.
“……We’ll talk about it when you’re actually pregnant!”
He said in his harshest tone.
He didn’t know if the dragon was even listening to him.
After drinking her fill, Lucia turned her massive body and stealthily circled under the cover of night.
Then she lowered her wings and shoulders, and tilted her head to one side, allowing Xia Li to climb onto her body.
The evil dragon said, “Let’s go!”
Xia Li sighed. In the end, he didn’t manage to say a single sarcastic remark.
Grabbing the dragon horns, which were thicker than subway handrails, Xia Li easily climbed onto the dragon’s head with Lucia’s cooperation.
The colossal creature quietly raised its head in the darkness.
Although she didn’t make a sound, she still startled the wild beasts in the forest.
As birds flew overhead, her beautiful silver form gradually emerged under the moonlight.
Lucia hooked her front claws and straightened her hind legs.
She entrusted the ability to navigate to the dragon knight on her head.
The dragon horns were gently pulled to the left, and Lucia unreservedly turned her head in that direction.
Then her huge wings spread open, creating a gust of wind, and the human and dragon once again soared into the vast sky.