Ch 100 – Arriving at a Dragon’s Lair

*** (A Few Weeks Later)

High above the blue sky but just below the clouds, a humanoid figure can be standing in the air wearing intimidating black armor. It was akin to that of an insect's exoskeleton, yet it had the texture of jade and had the hardness of the toughest of metals. Along with that, the person exuded a threatening aura from menacingly standing there silently in the air.

Floating in front of the person was a Skyhopper, the magical cousin of the Grasshoppers that has the ability to jump in the air with their special physiology that naturally uses mana to hop on air like it was solid ground. Its body was akin to white jade, smooth to the touch, and had a cooling sensation upon contact. Not only that, when looked under scrutinizing eyes, one can notice the blue etchings running along the Skyhopper's body, that was the natural magical circuitry in their bodies that allows them to hop on air.

Waving his arm, the armored figure grabs hold of the floating wooden staff beside them with a red gem being held by the top side of the wooden staff of spiraling wood.

"[Structural Analysis]."

With a flash of white light, the body of the Skyhopper got covered in mana as the contents of its entire being was presented to the armored figure like an open book. From its atomic structure, cellular composition, and much more.

"[Create Item: Skyhopper Legs]." Waving his wooden staff, the red gem glows brightly as seemingly a soul wisped out of it, but the rivers of time then warped automatically as a slight change in the field of space-time appeared, though unnoticeable to most beings that reside in this world.

Not only that, as his legs slowly transformed into white jade with glowing blue lines, the depleting mana in his soul weirdly replenishes with the passage of time, seemingly holding either infinite mana or absurd mana absorption rate. But the mana in the air around him retained the same quality, yet his mana still continued to recover endlessly.

And so, his insect-like legs transformed into a design similar to the powerful legs of the Skyhopper. With a design for agility and power at the same time, it can be considered a national treasure with the power it holds.

Slowly, the blue glow around his body that allows him to fly slowly dissipated away into mana for the air around the armored figure. Yet, as if an invisible foothold appeared below his feet, he remained standing still in the air as the armored figure's helmet wisped away into mana in the air, and what appeared was Lute's face with a wide grin.

"Yes! It worked! Not only do I have the absurd stat value modifier of the Dung Beetle Armor, but now I also have the Skyhopper Legs working alongside the Dung Beetle Armor! Though the color scheme could change later, it really took a lot of my mental energy to make it first try," Lute groaned as the invisible foothold below his feet went away with his mere thought. With that, he started to fall down to the grassy plains below him where Porky that can be seen eating some food, and Kira was training Raiden on how to wield the sword.

With nonchalant eyes, Lute fell down to the ground faster and faster like a falling meteor. His helmet slowly reappeared as he muttered a spell incoherently due to the air flowing towards his face. As if the ground was rapidly approaching him, Lute yawned behind his helmet while the blue lines on his Skyhopper Legs glowed brighter as he turned his body in midair so that his legs faced the ground instead.

Like a light feather, he lightly tap on the air and in that instant, the air around him was blown away just when he was about to fall harshly to the ground and formed a natural pillow for him to land on. As if he was a graceful butterfly, Lute landed on his two dainty legs on the grassy plain which caught Raiden's attention.

"Dada!" Raiden runs up to Lute; his body dripping with sweat. With a wide smile, he lunges straight toward Lute and took him into a tight hug like an affectionate child.

"How's your training with papa, Raiden?" Lute asked; his armored body slowly turned into blue flames until his armor dissipated away.

"Well, I can now use a new martial art!" Raiden excitedly reported as Lute nodded his head with a wide grin.

Walking towards Kira in the distance, Lute went to peck Kira on the mask while grabbing an empty glass cup on the table beside Kira. "Why don't you show it to Dada?"

"Of course!"

Giddily walking towards the target dummy made of hay far away from the duo, Raiden crouches down and grabbed the handle of his katana, and took a small section out from the sheathe; which allows him to take out the blade faster and easier.

Raiden points his katana at the target dummy and took in a deep breath; crimson sparks erupted from his body as his eyes glowed crimson.

"<Martial Arts, God Flash>!"

With a speed one can only consider divine, Raiden's body caused a sonic boom to appear at the place he was previously standing and reappeared right behind the target dummy's back, and in front of Lute and Kira, they watched a line seemingly divide reality into two.

"Whoo! Good job, Raiden!" Lute shouted proudly; his hands clapping wildly causing Raiden to blush from his father's praises.

"Hehe," Raiden rubbed the back of his head shyly; walking up to Lute and Kira, he was enveloped in a tight by the two as he chuckled in joy.

"Well, I guess you, my body, deserves a reward!" Lute said, raising the glass cup held by his right hand and Raiden saw the same green liquid his father—Lute—always drinks, appear from the ground up out of nowhere like a magic trick. Its horrid stench wafted into Raiden's nose causing him to almost gag from how horrible it was.

"NO!" Raiden ran away, crimson sparks covered his body as he tried to go far away from his father—who he knew was going to make him drink the green liquid—and desperately ran, or so he planned before the ground in front of him turned into an earthly wall, blocking him from any path of escape.

With a tight grasp suddenly clenching his shoulders, he tremblingly turned his head to the side and saw his father—Lute—menacingly standing beside him, holding a glass of green liquid with one hand while the other caused metal bindings to clamp his limbs shut.

"AHHH!" Raiden desperately shrieked and closed his eyes. And so, his wide mouth was open for intruders to enter, and the green liquid was poured into it without hesitation by Lute.

Glug, glug, glug… "Eh? It's actually good?"

Raiden can't believe it, he opened his eyes wide and saw Lute pouring the green liquid into his mouth and he drank it desperately, it was as if divine nectar has been given to him for free.

'Why is it so good?!' Raiden thought, but he kept drinking and drinking until the glass cup was emptied.

"See, I told you so. Here you are, trying to run away from your father's gift, now you're desperately drinking it like a man finding an oasis in the desert."

With a smug smile, Raiden watches as the glass cup that still holds droplets of green liquid transform into a cloud of smoke with a simple snap by Lute. Tears started to well up in Raiden's eyes as he felt betrayed by his father.

But, his eyes soon widen in shock as he felt boundless energy coursing through his body. Like an endless river waiting to be released to the grand ocean, he felt that he wanted to run with all his might and expend the energy in his body.

Releasing the metallic clamps that were restricting Raiden's body, crimson sparks erupted out of his figure and disappeared in an instant. A trail of crimson lighting can be seen wherever he goes, leaving behind a path of crimson in his wake. And so, both Lute and Kira watch Raiden run from the grassy plains onto the nearby pond in the distance, and towards the Philear Mountain in the distance, with a body made of stone and a snowy peak that reaches beyond the clouds.

Now left alone, Lute turned his head towards Kira and grinned, their hands intertwined lewdly, to think they were both exhibitionists who hand-hold out in the wild. Not only that, as Lute slowly neared his face to Kira's mask, his lips passed through Kira's mask and their lips touched, intertwining with one another like coiling dragons. Softly retreating his face, a trickle of saliva can be seen connecting from his tongue to Kira's mask as he chuckled.

Bzzz

Out of nowhere, Raiden suddenly appears beside them with wide eyes. "Papa, Dada! I saw a cave on the mountain! And it's super weird!"

"Weird? And how is it weird, Raiden?" Lute asked with a teasing smile.

"Eh… Um… Cold air is coming out of it!" Raiden said, his face bulging out as he blew air out of his mouth.

"Wait, like you mean the air is coming from inside the cave?" Lute asked, now more serious compared to before.

"Yeah! And the air is pretty cold! And I went in a little and the walls inside had this blue ice covering them!"

After hearing what Raiden said, Lute's eyes widen as a snarky grin appeared on his face.

"Raiden, we might have an adventurer at our hands!" Lute's grin widens more as he stood up slowly. Turning his head to Kira who nods silently, Lute nods his head in response and looks back at Raiden.

"Raiden, can you carry both of us to the cave you found?"

"Okay!"

As crimson sparks erupted from Raiden's body once more, he went to grab hold of both Lute and Kira who were currently wrapped in a white cocoon made by Kira to protect them from any accidents that might occur.

With his perception accelerating to a pace that made the whole world around Raiden seemingly come to a halt, he grabs the floating white cocoon beside him and softly presses his feet to the ground. And boom, his body disappeared into the distant mountain while leaving a crimson trail behind his wake, along with a sonic boom at the place he was previously standing at.

From the flat grassy plains to the rough uneven mountains, he nimbly went up the mountain without any problems until he finally arrived somewhere in its middle section and stop at the cave entrance he accidentally found. As the world went back to normal around him, the white cocoon he was holding unwrapped itself as Lute and Kira stood up and looked at the cave entrance with excited eyes.

"Hahaha! To think we'd randomly find this sudden encounter out in the wild!" Lute guffawed wildly as he inspected the cave entrance.

"What's inside the cave dad?"

"Well, you can say it would be a big surprise, c'mon, let's enter the cave already!"

And so, the family of three rapidly ran through the cave, and they visibly saw the cave walls around them slowly turn from a rocky gray to become fully icy blue. The walls now became blue ice that even Lute has a relatively hard time breaking a chipped rock of blue ice with his bare hands, meaning they were nearing closer and closer to its source.

"A- a- a dragon?!"

Arriving at the deepest part of the cave, the family of three find themselves standing outside the cavern of an Ice Dragon currently resting in the distance. A cavern fully made out of blue ice similar to that of crystals, with hardness tougher than most minerals found in the world, it was truly a cave that belonged to an Ice Dragon.

AN: This is 2022 words, you're welcome.

Wow, 100 Chapters, am I gonna cry or what? Just kidding.

So, uh, reaching 100 Chapters isn't really important so yeah... goodbye.

Writing is bla bla bla, give me your fucking power stones NOW *THUNDER*!

(July 25, 2022 – 243rd day of writing)