12 The Ancient Gold Dragon

Goddamn it! Why is this happening to me! The guy is an actual freaking dragon. The core he was gonna give me is no longer JUST a hero level item, rather, something with a possible legendary status. I will never understand why Zhangsun Shan never revealed it in the game. If he did that, I'd never imagine to step foot in here.

You know what, screw it! I'm gonna kindly reject his offer and get the hell out of here! It's not like Zhangsun Shan was the only character in the game! This is a world with endless possibilities. So, I'm sure there would be some other technique that's gonna let me fix my Qi center.

Hence, I slowly headed towards the path. "You see, I'm gonna have to reject your offer. I appreciate your consideration, but I'm worried about the servant out there. So, I gotta go." I tried bullshitting my way out.

"Well, you could just say yes to my offer and go, you know?" He sighed.

"Yes, I can… But…" I had no reply. I had literally nothing to bullshit about. I was in a dilemma.

"I get what you're thinking. I know you're not so stoked to know that I'm a dragon… well, a former dragon now, I guess. But think about it. I could've just kept it hidden until you accepted it and kinda swindled. But, I didn't, right?" He asked.

"But... I don't wanna be a hero…" I replied. Damn, even I felt like I was whining quite a bit.

"Who asked you to, huh? Even if you receive my core, nothing's gonna change in this world. No one's gonna ask you to fight battles. Even if people come to know that your Qi center's fixed, they wouldn't really care. Because you'd still be a newbie at cultivation, right? And my core's not gonna accelerate your cultivation speed and stuff. Even if it does and you become super power, just don't reveal it then. Then, if you feel guilty about not using the power to save the world even though you know the future, just do it in the shadows or something. There are ways for random powerful mobs to work in the shadows without getting noticed. Haven't you read those kinds of novels and comics back on Earth?" He asked.

"Well, in the end of such novels, don't people always acknowledge their power and stuff? I don't want that to happen." I replied. I'm not kidding, any other world and I would've jumped around for fame and recognition. But this world isn't the apt world for that.

"That's because they're kinda idiots and at that point, they kinda wanna reveal themselves as the masterminds behind it, right? Having a big reveal is a man's romance after all. However, if you don't want such a thing to happen, don't worry, since I got your back! As long as you don't want to reveal yourself in a grand fashion, I can help you hide your strengths." He assured me. Well, such a simple answer. And yet I couldn't think about it. Maybe, I'm an idiot after all. "Ah, by the way, to sum it all up. I know you think there's several other ways to fix your Qi center. Let me tell this to ya, there's just four in this world. One would be the chaotic mode from the game, while the other two are receiving Qi centers from Gods; different ones, of course. And the final method would be yours truly. So, your choices basically are to lose yourself trying to fix the center, receiving a Qi center from me or receiving a Qi center from someone powerful than me with a cultivation acceleration technique, which might seem quite attractive, but it'll destroy you before you reach the heavenly realm since the Gods doesn't want you to achieve it. There you go! Those are your choices." He explained.

I sighed. "You really know how to market your own product, eh?" I asked.

"Learned from the best! Telemarketers from your memory are pretty great, you know?" He chuckled.

"How could you see such a trivial memory so clearly… that I will never know." I laughed with him as well before abruptly coming to a pause. "You know, thank you for persuading me. Like I know I'm being total whiny and annoying about it, but you still persisted. Thanks." I smiled.

"You better! I never had to persuade someone to take up my power, you know? It's usually making others give up their power." He sighed this time.

"So… How are we gonna go with this Qi center fixing stuff?" I asked.

"Lay down and close your eyes. I'll do the rest." He said as he cracked his knuckles.

#

It took an hour or two when he finally asked me to open my eyes. I could feel pain throughout my body during the entire two hours. And finally when the pain subsided, I could finally sense my new and improved Qi center. Okay, imagine your Qi center as a cup or something brimmed with water, which would be Qi. Until now, that cup was broken. So, even if I pour water into that cup, it always leaks out. However, now that cup was sturdy as hell and brimmed with water.

I couldn't send the Qi to multiple parts of my body to utilize it to the fullest, which made sense because this body wasn't familiar with that sort of action. So, right now I have Qi to the fullest, but no means to use it. I was satisfied with the result, since now I can finally properly "play the game".

"How do you feel?" The dragon asked.

"What do you think? I feel good, of course!" I replied.

"I'm sorry you had to suffer the pain all this while." He spoke in a disappointed tone.

I sighed. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Don't go all shoujo manga on me." I replied.

"Sheesh. I just shoot my shot! And it's great that you aren't charmed by my good looks. Or else, your wasteful feelings would have ruined our working relationship." He spoke as he flaunted his looks.

"I'm not that downtrodden that I have to get in a relationship with a possibly ten times older soul." I replied.

"Good, I don't wanna get in a relationship with a reincarnated person in a little girl's body either." He spoke. I think he realized that my current age is much younger than my Earth age.

"Great! Now that that useless topic is off the table, I'm gonna look into Zhang Wei. I wanna see how much he grew." I replied as I got up.

"Sure, let's go!" He jumped up with me as well.

"Wait, you're coming with me?" I was surprised by this revelation.

"Didn't I tell that to you already? Since you arrived here, my soul can finally escape this cave." He replied.

"Then why the hell would you follow me? Can't you just travel the damn world or something?" I asked.

"You want reasons, huh? Okay, first of all I'm a soul. So, I can't cultivate. And without cultivating I can't get my old powers back. You know, if I'm able to surpass my old powers somehow, I can break the seal? Yea, then I can finally get my body back. So, that'd be pretty cool, I think. And since I can't cultivate directly, I needed a medium who might help me with that. That's where you come in. You can cultivate for yourself and occasionally, I will take some of your power as well. So, I guess you don't have to worry about being too strong? Other than that, don't you want someone to mentor you through cultivation? I know for a fact that you don't know the A-Z of cultivation, so let me help you with that. Mutual benefit, you see?" He explained.

What he proposed wasn't bad for me at all. I can't just reveal that I can cultivate just out of blue, so I can't have anyone teaching me. And if I can repay him for helping me in a way that could possibly control my level as well, I had no reason to refuse. "Cool, I'm fine with that." I replied.

"Pleasure to work with you!" He smiled and extended his hand.

"Likewise." I shook on it.

And after that, we headed through the path that I came in. Since it seemed kinda long this time for some reason and neither of us talked, I felt a little uncomfortable. So, the benevolent me tried to break the ice yet again. "Hey, you never told me your name!"

"Ah, well no one really called me anything other than the ancient gold dragon for a few good years now… So, I kinda don't know my actual name." He replied.

"But, it feels weird to call you dragon. You know what? I'm gonna name you… Goldy! It's a pretty good name, isn't it?" I asked as I laughed my ass off inwardly.

"Am I your dog or something? You're having a really good laugh, huh? But swerve, I actually like this name, since it's been a long time someone's called me by a different name. So, joke's on you! Call me Goldy anytime you want!" He proclaimed. Had I known that he would take this seriously, I would have given him a better name. But, Goldy isn't that bad of a name for a dragon, right?

#