Fighting for the future

I was about to rejoice at my incredible success in subduing the aura, but that celebration was cut short by people screaming at the top of their voices. It was an actual pandemonium in the sect base with at least a hundred people screaming and running in random directions. They didn't even care about us standing in the middle of the corridor holding the containers containing the most valuable thing in their sect. Damn, guys! Notice important stuff like this! Wait a minute. Why are they even running like this?

"Ah, even a cinder block is aware of stuff before you ever do!" Goldy scoffed as he spoke.

"What do you mean? Do you know why they're running?" I asked.

".... Try turning on your Dragon's rage again." He suggested. That's when my blockhead realized what's going on. They are running away from the danger. Of course, they don't have time to even take a glance at some person robbing their sect. Ah, I kinda felt bad for them. However, I didn't like how these people were squirming around me, so I turned back the Dragon's rage. It's getting pretty easy to do this, you know?

Just as I did that, rather than the aura engulfing me, a bright light came out of my body, which was weird, because the human body isn't capable of producing luminescence. But then I remembered the simple fact that I'm in a fictional world and there's a chance that my body isn't exactly human but a humanoid. Anyway, the light went out after a few good seconds of it glowing brightly, then eventually it faded out and the aura took its place. I wonder what that bright light is though. I never experienced it before in that one time I turned on the Dragon's rage.

"Congratulations. You have successfully leveled up. Dragon's rage is level two now." Goldy applauded as he spoke.

"Level two, huh. Wow… It leveled up pretty quickly, didn't it? By the way, what are the perks of being in level two? I mean there's gotta be some specific extra addition to the skill once you reach level two, right?" I asked.

Goldy smiled. "An addition, huh… Will this suffice?" He asked as he showed off the surroundings to me. I was pumped up since I got level two, so I didn't actually notice the stuff going on around me. So, when I actually saw it, I was dumbfounded. The people stood still, frozen in their places. No, the time wasn't stopped or something like that. Even though they were still, I could see the sweat beads pouring from their faces and the fear in their eyes. It's as if the aura got a bit stronger that their body sold them out. Like, their body thought that there's no point in running away now.

"The aura strengthened and the radius of it increased as well?" I asked, judging from what they did.

"Ah, kudos! You guessed that right!" Goldy applauded yet again for my right answer.

Anyway, since they were all frozen in fear, we didn't have a problem walking in the corridors as peace came by once again. Most of their eyes were looking towards the ground, so technically they haven't seen the original form of the cat burglar, right? If I could, I would like it if the rumors stay the same and people continue to believe that the cat burglar is a man. It will give me room to improvise. However, if they happened to find that I'm a woman… Well, what can I do about it, eh?

So, me and Goldy walked in the midst of shivering people, as I took a particular liking to this scene for some reason. Oh no, do I like fear and murder and stuff like that? I mean I had the urge to poison my father in my past life, but never got to execute it because I was afraid of getting caught and getting abused by him. Maybe now that I have enough power, is my sadistic side being shown much more clearly? I mean, I would like to think that I have an equal ratio of sadism and masochism, so if the sadist takes the lead, what will happen to the masochist?

"It's not the sadist in you who's relishing on this scene, Hua. It's the dragon. It's always the dragon." He smiled at me. Looks like he's happy too. Maybe he's happy because of this scene as well. I mean, he's a dragon too, right? It's really satisfying to see the humans standing around pissing their pants… Damn, being a dragon messes with my mind as well. I should find a topic so that I don't get all crazy about it.

"Hey, I never would've guessed that a hundred people would be hiding in plain sight like this! Even though they're shivering like this, they're pretty good at hiding, aren't they?" I asked, being all cheerful about it.

"It's not that they are skillful at hiding. It's just that you suck at finding them." He spoke the truth, thus dampening the cheerful mood I created in just an instant.

"Hey, whose fault is it, huh?" I just wanted to pick on him by saying that, but seeing that he bowed towards me had me all flustered.

"You're right. It's on me. If I taught you some skill to scout the area and sense people, you would've never gone on that mental breakdown. So, it's truly my fault." The mighty dragon bowed towards me… No, I didn't want to see him bow towards me. I mean, he's my master, right? Hell, I don't want to see him bow before anyone. He's the ancient gold dragon, for Pete's sake!

"I was kidding… Haha… Please don't bow before me like this from now on. It hurts me more than being useless ever hurt me." I replied, upon which he raised his head. Suddenly, I remembered something. "Hey, shouldn't we talk through our mind? Since there's all these people surrounding us…" I voiced my doubts. The rumors already say that I'm a crazy bastard wreaking havoc… I don't want a delusional person speaking to 'himself' added to the list as well.

"Ah, don't worry about that. The aura will deal with it." Goldy replied. Hmm, maybe the aura blocks our voice from reaching their ears or something? I didn't think that would be too important to ask. "By the way, we need to talk about your insecurities…" Goldy spoke.

"My insecurities?"

"Yea, the one where you call yourself useless and other self-deprecating words like that. Even though you might not mind speaking ill of yourself, I mind!" He replied. Aww, is he being protective about his disciple and don't want to hear anyone calling me useless, even if the person is me myself? Fu~fu. I thought that might be the case, however his next words broke the illusion that I built up. "I honestly think it's getting really annoying. Like, it was fine in the beginning; it might have sounded a bit cute as well. But right now, I absolutely hate hearing that from you. So, stop thinking that you're some useless rug-" He was about to say something epic or so I believed, but I didn't want to give him that luxury to sound cool.

"I didn't call myself a useless rug though…" I interjected, which wasn't received well.

"As I was saying, stop thinking that you're… useless…. And think of yourself as the disciple of the greatest living being on this planet!" Goldy laughed upon saying those words.

"But you're actually a soul though." I thought this would be a good time to be a little cheeky, so I tried being that.

"Well then… The greatest being on this planet, soul and living combined. How about that?" He asked. I mean, I just gave him a bit more credibility by pointing that out, didn't I? Not that he needs any sort of acknowledgement from people. "Anyway, I know that your past life wasn't exactly that pleasant. However, you gotta remind yourself of this. This place might be related to that life because of that one game you played, other than that, nothing from that life matters. This is a chance to clean your slate and start from the scratch. And if you're gonna cry about your past, you're gonna miss the point of getting to live another time. You got a loving family, and you got a great teacher… You seem to have one or two friends with Qiu Si and gang, and you have enough power to live on your own accord. So, rather than fighting against the past that's long gone, fight for your near future; fight for the ones you wanna protect, the ones you love… the ones that's gonna be there for the rest of your life." His words struck a chord on me. He was absolutely right. The trauma from my past… It had been haunting me even when I transmigrated into this world. Maybe it's time to stop living as that cowardly person… Maybe it's time for me to live as Hua Liu of the Blue Moon Sect, the one who has a dragon as her master.

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