I Received System to Become Dragonborn

Chapter 1466: The Need

Erend returned to the garden once again. But this time a faint smile rested on his face. Earlier, he had sat here burdened by anxiety and uncertainty because of the Black Rage. Now, after confronting it within his subconscious and receiving an artifact from Velrion to suppress its influence, he finally felt somewhat relieved.

The problem had not disappeared, but at least he had taken his first step toward solving it.

Now, there was someone he had wanted to contact for a long time. Aurdis. The Elf Princess and his lover had undoubtedly been worried after not hearing from him for weeks. Though, knowing her, she was probably already accustomed to his sudden disappearances whenever he became involved in matters that threatened entire worlds.

Erend activated their telepathic connection. Because their hearts had long been connected, the link formed almost instantly. He could feel the familiar warmth flowing through the connection before sensing Aurdis accepting it from the other side.

"Erend?" Aurdis’s melodious voice echoed gently within his mind.

A wide smile immediately appeared on Erend’s face. Simply hearing her voice made the burdens weighing upon his heart disappear almost instantly. For a moment, it felt as though the Black Rage had never existed and only the good things in his life remained.

"I’m here, Aurdis," Erend said warmly. "How have you been?"

He couldn’t hide the happiness in his voice. Likewise, through their connection, he could feel Aurdis’s emotions as clearly as his own. She was happy and relieved. He could almost picture her beautiful smile despite the distance separating them.

"Are you injured?" Aurdis immediately asked. Worry filled her voice.

Erend hesitated for a moment.

He couldn’t exactly say that he hadn’t been injured. The battle against Nyssara had nearly killed him. Fortunately, he had already recovered by now.

"I’m fine now," Erend finally replied. "But I just went through a very terrifying battle."

"Ah!" Aurdis gasped softly before dread and worry flooded their connection. "I’m... glad you’re alright. I’m sorry that I couldn’t—"

"No," Erend interrupted gently. "Don’t say that. None of this is your fault. This isn’t your burden to carry."

"I only wish I could help you."

Erend shook his head despite knowing she couldn’t see him. "No. It was far too dangerous. I don’t want you here getting hurt."

At that moment, Erend felt a brief wave of sadness coming from Aurdis. It lasted for only a second before disappearing, and he decided not to dwell on it when she spoke again.

"Is that so?" Aurdis said softly. "Then... would you like to come here?"

"I want to," Erend admitted honestly. "But there are still some things I need to take care of here before I can leave."

"Oh... that’s unfortunate."

"Yeah..." Erend sighed in disappointment. "But don’t worry. I’ll come see you as soon as I can."

"I’m glad to hear that."

The two of them continued talking for a while longer about small and ordinary things. They spoke about their days, exchanged warm words, and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

Eventually, they decided to end their telepathic connection for now. Naturally, Erend did so somewhat reluctantly.

After remaining seated in silence for several moments, he stood up from the garden bench.

There was still something he needed to do. The Void Architect had been defeated, but Erend refused to believe that everything had truly ended so easily. He wanted to investigate whether anything had been left behind after the invasion.

—

Erend walked through the recovering city while maintaining a simple Magic disguise. The spell subtly altered his appearance and presence just enough that no one paid him any special attention. To everyone else, he looked like an ordinary citizen taking a leisurely stroll through the streets.

The city remained busy with reconstruction efforts. Workers repaired damaged buildings while merchants started to reopen their shops. Available guards continued patrolling the streets, and despite their exhaustion, hope had already begun returning to the people’s faces.

Erend quietly observed everything as he walked. Eventually, something caught his attention.

A small piece of black flesh remained attached to a broken section of stone near one of the damaged streets. It was no larger than a fingernail and had apparently been overlooked during the cleanup efforts.

Erend crouched down and gently touched it with his fingers. The moment he did, he immediately sensed a faint trace of Magic energy lingering within it.

The energy was extremely weak and harmless. It possessed nowhere near enough power to threaten anyone. Even so, it still existed.

Erend narrowed his eyes slightly.

"So there are still remnants left behind..." he murmured quietly.

The flesh had long since lost its vitality and would likely decay completely before long, but its existence proved something important.

The Void Architect was not truly dead. Perhaps weakened beyond imagination, maybe unable to interfere with the world for now. But not dead.

Erend slowly stood up and looked toward the distant horizon. It seemed that the battle against the Void Architect was far from over. There would eventually come a day when he returned.

Erend let out a long sigh. He didn’t want that day to come anytime soon. Still, after everything that had happened, he doubted the Void Architect would be able to return in the near future. The damage he had suffered was simply too great. Whatever remained of that Cosmic Being was undoubtedly weakened beyond measure and would likely spend a very long time recovering his strength.

That realization brought him some relief.

Then, Erend slowly looked up at the sky.

The weather was bright and peaceful today. White clouds drifted lazily across the endless blue sky while warm sunlight illuminated the recovering city below.

But beyond that beautiful sky lay something far more terrifying. The Cosmic Beings.

Nyssara had already shown him just how dangerous those existences were. Even with four Dragonborn fighting together at their full strength, victory had only barely been possible against an opponent whose power had been restricted by an oath.

There were undoubtedly more beings like her somewhere among the stars and across the countless worlds that existed beyond his understanding.

Erend narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared into the vast sky. Compared to them, the worlds he had seen was nothing more than a tiny piece hidden within an unimaginably large universe.

One day, another one of those beings might set its gaze upon this world.

He needed to prepare for that possibility as well. The Black Rage. The remaining creations of the Void Architect. The Cosmic Beings that existed somewhere beyond the sky.

There were still far too many threats waiting for him in the future.

All he could do was continue growing stronger.

—