Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Black Dragon Barbecue
"Well..." Ron and Silvia exchanged glances. The Magic imbued in this Gemstone was obviously more powerful than a standard Elemental Weapon, but it lacked tactical flexibility.
"Hey, it’s better than nothing," Delaford chimed in, leaning closer. "Three times a day is perfect for me!"
His cloak, dagger, and shortbow—all three could be given the Strong Acid Enchantment. This was a solid upgrade for Delaford.
"I have a shield, too," Aive teased. "Besides, you can’t use two weapons at once, but I have no problem with that."
"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t you already have the Lightning Gemstone? Stop trying to take this one too!"
"Ron has the Lightning Gemstone," Aive said, shooting a wink at Ron. "You’ll just have to get in line!"
"Alright, alright," Ron said, pretending not to see Aive’s signal. "Stop teasing him. Delaford, we’ll give this to you after we unlock the slate. For now, Aive really does need to hold onto it."
"After all, you can’t use the amethyst slate without Elven blood."
Delaford shot Aive a resentful look as she triumphantly took the Gemstone, then rolled his eyes.
"It seems the seven Gemstones correspond to seven different elements," Silvia said. "But there are more than seven known types of damage, aren’t there? I wonder which ones the Hailan Empire left out."
"Fire, cold, radiant, necrotic, lightning, thunder, Strong Acid, poison, psychic..." Ron ticked them off on his fingers. "I’m guessing they left out psychic. After all, that’s a specialty for many Elves."
"Elves are strong with nearly every type of element. Or rather, they have no real weaknesses," Aive interjected. "Mindcasters are just uncommon, not nonexistent."
"We’re looking for the whole set of Gemstones anyway, right?" Sera said nonchalantly. "We’ll find out when we find them."
’In the barbarian’s eyes, these Gemstones and things like them had nothing to do with her. A true Warrior should face every challenge head-on, not hide behind Magic, Witchcraft, or Shamans!’
"There’s a big difference between having a weapon and knowing how to use it," said You from the front, disagreeing with Sera’s view. "You can certainly chop someone in half with that double-bladed greataxe, but you also have to watch out for people playing dirty."
"The vast majority of Elven magical achievements are in the schools of Divination, Transformation, Enchantment, and Defense, used to repel outsiders."
"It wasn’t until the rise of the Hailan Empire that Elven Magic began to grow rapidly and aggressively more powerful."
"That’s true," Silvia nodded. "Many spells, aside from the most widespread ones, are named after their creators. And among those, you almost never see the name of an Elf Mage attached to Molding Magic."
As she spoke, the Vampire Descendant looked up dreamily. "I used to have two dreams: to gain my freedom, and to see my name in other people’s Spellbooks!"
"’Silvia’s Vampire Touch’?" Victoria teased.
Vampire’s Touch was one of those widely known spells. Without some special innovation, Silvia would have a hard time attaching her name to it.
"I’ll let you have a taste of ’Silvia’s Vampire Touch’ right now!" Silvia laughed and pounced, shoving her hands—as cold as an Undead Creature’s—down Victoria’s collar.
Ming Datiss had fled again, and he most likely wouldn’t have the guts to come near Green Swamp Town anymore—it was a Black Dragon’s Nest now. Therefore, the rest of their journey should be completely safe.
A few Kobold Scouts did occasionally poke their heads out of the woods, but they always ducked back immediately, never marking Ron’s group as prey. Besides, You had said the Kobold Tribe here were retainers of Aiksuuri. In a way, that made them her colleagues, so there was no need to be on guard.
When Ron and his party arrived at the Black Dragon’s Nest, they happened upon Aiksuuri dragging a dead stag toward his home. The young Black Dragon froze for a moment when he saw them.
"Let’s get one thing straight, I’m not sharing," was Aiksuuri’s first reaction, assuming they were there to freeload a meal. "My teacher just left a couple of days ago. It took me a lot of effort to catch this, and I was looking forward to some meat."
"Don’t worry, we just ate. No reason to have another meal before lunch," Ron said. He wasn’t just being polite; with no crises on the road, they’d been keeping to three meals a day and had just finished breakfast. "We’re here to borrow the slate."
"Oh, then go on in." The Black Dragon happily dragged the dead stag away, clearing the entrance to the cave. But as he looked up, he saw Sera and Delaford had gathered around him.
"W-What are you two doing?"
"You’re just going to eat it like this?" Sera reached out and prodded the stag’s carcass a few times. "It can’t taste good raw, and you don’t even have any seasoning."
"Where would I even find any?" Aiksuuri blinked his reptilian eyes. "If you have some, I’d be willing to trade for it."
He knew cooked food was tastier, and even better with seasoning, but that was a privilege reserved for red, gold, brass, and even Blue Dragons. Black Dragons like him could only spit Strong Acid.
Aiksuuri only got to eat a proper meal when his teacher visited. The rest of the time, he mostly ate his food raw, fur and blood included.
To be sure, the Dragon Race possessed perhaps the most powerful digestive system of any creature, but that didn’t mean they didn’t appreciate a bit of refinement. If a dragon were reduced to eating dirt to survive, he would likely consider it the shame of a lifetime.
"You can’t even breathe fire?" Delaford shot him a pitying look that thoroughly irked Aiksuuri, then pulled out a fire-starting kit. "Sera, go find some branches. Let’s show him how it’s done!"
"You got it!" Sera had no desire to join Ron and the others for some magic ritual anyway, so she readily agreed. She went into the nearby woods and gathered a large bundle of dry plants perfect for kindling, then took out a small vial of salt she carried with her. "Too bad we don’t have a pot, or we could have made a stew."
"No stewing!" Delaford shook his head so hard it looked like it might fly off. "We’ll roast it! Roasting makes it smell amazing!"
As the host, Aiksuuri couldn’t just stand by. He immediately dug a pile of bricks out of some nearby ruins and set up a makeshift grill. And so, the woman, the goblin, and the dragon began their cookout. Before long, a fragrant aroma was drifting across the Black Dragon’s territory.
’Ugh... I want some so badly...’ You hadn’t gone into the Dragon’s Nest either, but now she was regretting it. ’It’s torture for an incorporeal Undead Creature to only be able to watch and not eat! Why couldn’t I be one of those ghosts? At least they don’t have memories of their past lives, so they wouldn’t get this hungry!’
"My goodness, how long has it been since breakfast? You’re eating again already?" Aive poked her head out of the entrance to the Black Dragon’s Nest. "Sera, Ron is calling for you!"
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