Chapter 15 – Quest

So, the quest to cure my curse begins! I'm unironically looking forward to this, I bet I'll have to slug it through heaven and hell, fight creatures from mythical legends all to give myself a chance at everlasting life. If I put it that way, this quest sounds bloody brilliant!

There is a slight problem though.

I'm unsure how to actually go about this.

I think my best chance of finding someone who can help is the battlemage but she and the captain still aren't back. I could go to the capital and try to find them but that's like trying to find a needle in a haystack, they could literally be anywhere in the city. The palace is another option to ask for that prince Alistair guy but I doubt the guards would even consider sending a message to him.

I've purposely left the most important part of it as well, none of the family actually know which city it even is. Both parents have a rough idea but flying over to have a quick check is something that needs to be avoided.

So, the only thing I can think of right now is waiting for the next messenger to visit the cave and using them for help. The problem is, they only come after a set amount of time.

It's been roughly half a month and they still haven't arrived yet.

__________

'Status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 21]

[Health 3,484/3,500]

[Stamina 3,467/3,500]

[Magicka 3,500/3,500]

'Look Aesa, this curse is so freaking dumb, I've lost sixteen days of life already!'

[<-User- is not far from next level>]

'Really? Ah, that's good then, that's another five hundred days'

If it isn't obvious, I'm going to add every single point into health as I level up. I won't be able to improve my energy or magic consumption for the time being but that should make sense why. I've also been purposely hunting as much as I possibly can as well recently, that also should also be obvious why. More EXP equals more stat points so which gives more life for this mighty bird.

'Why couldn't it be a cool curse like growing a third limb or something like that?'

[<-User- is disgusting>]

'Dirty Aesa, get your mind out of the gutter! I said limb, not third leg. Bad system!'

<They're back little one>

"They're back already? That was quick"

Tis just me and my old man in the cave right now, both the other dragons have gone hunting for our lunch today.

<No little one, the messenger. Can smell the abomination he's riding on>

Damn this guy's casual racism, he's going to say something that gets us cancelled soon.

Off in the distance, I can see the messenger on the wyvern above the mountain range. As he gets slowly closer and closer, suddenly, two other flying beasts appear right in front of the cave coming from nowhere.

<Ikarus! The messenger is here!>

"Cu!"

"*Sigh*… Just get in the cave already. The guy won't have a place to land"

<Little one is right>

A little time passes and we've all cleared the entrance allowing the flying knight to land into the cave. Once he's landed and starting to get of the wyvern, I notice he has a familiar face.

'Oh, it's that guard Nathan guy. I didn't realize he's sometimes the messenger'

"I-It's a good to m-meet you again"

<Ah, it's human who saved our daughter>

"Cu!"

<Greetings, little mortal>

'He really can't help but stutter around dragons, can he?'

[<Affirmative>]

'Aesa, it was a rhetorical question'

While the greeting is going on, I notice something new about the guard, his knight's armour looks slightly different than before. Some of the arm and leg plates have been replaced with bits from that black dragon scale he received, I'm actually surprised they allowed him to keep it.

<Little mortal, the terms with your empire need to change>

<Dermak… what are you doing?>

"S-Sorry Mr. dragon?"

I'm not the only one who's confused, mother is as well, this wasn't the plan. what is he doing, why do the terms need to change? The guard is looking stressed as well.

<I'll explain it later darling. Human, take this to the blonde mortal>

"Y-you mean his h-highness?"

<Yes, him>

Father walks towards the nervous man and gives him a scroll roughly the same size of the human himself.

<Dermak, when did you prepare that?>

<You'll understand the reason later for it later… Human! you are to escort my daughter to the blonde mortal. This is severe matter of life and death and time is of the essence. This mission overrides any other assignment that you may have been assigned, you can also leave your update message here since >

"E-Erm… okay then"

The human gives father a document he brought with him and continues on.

<Now that your orders are in effect, we need to prepare a few things. This will only take several minutes>

Listening to father like this, it sounds like he's a high-ranking soldier in the military or something similar bossing the guy around. I guess the knight can't exactly say no, can he?

Father heads towards the nest and mother comes over to me now, clearly trying not to tear up.

"Mother, no! We already agreed, no crocodile tears. This is for the best, remember?"

<How can I not cry when my daughter is leaving the nest?>

I do love my parents but God, they really can be seriously emotional beings.

Mother gives me a long hug then steps back again, there clearly is a tear in her eye.

<Before you go little one, there is something that should provide useful for you on your journey. Human! turn around and face away for a minute… Littlest one! Get out the nest!>

"O-Okay"

"Cu?"

The guard and Minos both do as asked and then father now over by the nest, pulls the furs off revealing the money pit and takes a few things from it. Once he gets what he needs, he puts the furs back on again and comes back to us. Of course, Minos returns instantly back to the nest once it's placed back down.

"Little one, you might want to change form… Human! if you even think about turning around right now, be prepared to lose your eyes and another valuable body part"

"I-I w-wont!"

'Thinking about it, I kinda miss my valuable body part. It definitely helped with going to the loo. I think that's what father was referring to'

Once I've done what father asked and I quickly put on the training clothes I got, he comes over to me and passes me several items. A shiny silver broadsword, a bag of gold coins and a golden ring that had a small ruby engrained on it.

<The sword and money are for obvious reasons; the ring is what humans would call enchanted I believe>

I've already got my enchanted choker; I wonder what this ring has.

"It's enchanted? With what?"

<Urgh… help me with this darling. You know I can't stand that magic>

<Sure Dermak. The ring is enchanted with a subspace ability. We got it in battle from an old mage centuries ago>

Wait a second, subspace ability? I've got to investigate this further.

"What's it do?"

<We've never used it ourselves but from what I've seen, if you put something like a weapon or something similar up against the ring, it stores it inside>

This could have been useful ages ago! I wouldn't have had to carry a fur bag around with me all the time to take stuff around with me. Ah, forget it, at least I have it now. How do I take stuff back out though?

<It should also stick to your original form little one, maybe on one of your claws perhaps? I really dislike it but it should prove useful for you. Human! You could've turned around ages ago…>

I put the ring on and give it a quick check by touching the tip of the blade I've been given against the ruby engrained in it.

[Do you wish to store -Silver Broadsword- in storage?]

[Yes or No]

A small bar similar to the first time I unlocked system appeared in front of me, it didn't make any noise but looked extremely similar.

[<-User- has unlocked sub-system ability -subspace-. Does -user- wish to synchronize with system Aesa?>]

'You just called yourse-… I'll drop it for now. Yes, most definitely'

[<Loading… loading… loading>]

[<Synchronization complete>]

As soon as system finishes speaking, the sword starts fading from existence and within a second, it was completely transparent and gone.

'I need to check whe- Is someone talking to me?'

<Ikarus, are you listening to me?>

Was father communicating? Must off missed what he said. He was right up close by my face now, was completely zoned out with my new ability.

"Sorry, was talking to the voice"

<Urgh… must I do such an embarrassing thing again?>

<Yes Dermak>

Father looks extremely uncomfortable and mother is smiling, I wonder the reason why?

<Listen little one, I know you are strong enough but the world is not always an easy place to survive in. Please… for me and your mother's sake… stay safe. I do actually care for you my child>

"Never realized you were such a sappy old man father; I'll miss you too"

<Sappy old man!?! Hmph>

Intense anger appears on father's face for a split second from my joke and then goes straight to grumpiness, even mother found that slightly funny.

"Cu?"

"What is it brother?"

Just as I'm about to set off and leave, Minos leaves the nest and comes up to me asking something while pointing his head to his small money pile in the corner, think he's a little depressed I'm leaving to.

I've purposely neglected mentioning the pile since he's like a dog with a bone with it, he's surprisingly aggressive with anyone going near it. It probably doesn't help that I've purposely been moving and messing around with the pile while he's out. He deserves it though; he actually is quite nasty guarding it. Bad Minos!

<He says you can borrow some of his money, little one>

<Something about charging interest though>

"Borrow with interest!? You're turning into a loan shark brother; I'll miss you too"

"Cu…"

He rubs his head against me and I give him a little hug, I should probably get moving before water works start appearing from everyone's eyes.

"We should get going then guard, is it still guard though or a different title now?"

"A-Ah yes, it's k-knight now"

"Moving up in the world I see, good for you"

__________

As were flying off on his wyvern, I can see the three dragons waving me goodbye. Even I'm starting to feel a little sappy looking at that. It's unfortunate but what can you do about it?

Why me, a majestic flying creature is currently sitting on the back of a wyvern is for a simple reason. I would have had to change form again and things were getting sappy enough back in the cave. Definitely nothing to do with getting naked again, erm... ahem.

You might be thinking, why not use magic and grow wings like what my parents can do and stay in human form? It's simple really, I'm not a bloody dragon! The only magic I can do all evolves around fire, I can make a set of fiery wings but it's only fashion statement, they don't actually work. They do look badass doe.

"You can relax around me you know; I can't be as scary as my parents"

I say this to the knight guiding the wyvern since he still seems a little nervous even while flying the creature.

"S-Sorry miss Ikarus but d-dragons aren't my specialty"

"I'm not a dragon though remember, I'm a big fat chubby orange bird… well normally I think"

I think belittling myself got a little chuckle out of him, maybe he can try and relax a little. As for why I'm allowed to call myself fat, it's because I know I'm not! If someone calls me chubby in a joking way, then I'll be fine with it, I think?

Thinking about it, I never described what a wyvern even looks like. Basically, just imagine a dragon with no arms and a hell of a lot smaller. I know it's simple but that's literally what they look like, father's racism doesn't make all that sense looking at them.

"I'm going to be quiet for a little while if that's okay with you, need to check something"

"Okay"

'Aesa, how does that storage ability subspace work?'

[<While -user- has -subspace- ring equipped, -user- will have limited storage >]

'Yeah, I already know that. How much room do I have and how do I actually take stuff out?'

[<-Subspace- ability correlates to -user's- phoenix form weight. To remove items, all -user- needs to do is imagine what item -user- wishes to take>]

'So, a small elephant worth of weight? That's a really good amount. Hang on, can I not view what I've got stored though? It's like opening a fridge, you need visual confirmation to know what you want to get'

[<-User- has provided dumb example. If -user- wishes to know what's in storage, ask G.A.P>]

I know it's not a great example but the number of times I've been hungry and just stared looking what I have in the fridge, I can't even begin to imagine. Thinking about it, I wonder if I could build a fridge in this world. I could get ice cold booze anytime I wanted, that's a brilliant motivator!

'You've changed your name back to GAP again, just fully embrace your name system, we both know you want to. Oh, and call me Ikarus or find something other than -user- while you're at'

[<…>]

'You really are tired of my shit… Forget it, let's try this out while flying. If I just imagine the blade in the sheath the sword goes in, that should work right?'

As soon as I thought that, the empty sword sheath on my hip appeared full.

Let's just hope this ability doesn't have any ill side effects like with the others, that's probably why I'm not that excited on it. With this system, I can never be too sure.

So, me and knight Nathan's journey to the capital continues on and the quest finding the cure for dragon descendant finally begins!

'This better be enjoyable'