Chapter 47: Sharing the same goal.

Rigel felt the cold in his body and there was only one part of his body that didn't get affected by it, and it was his head. The Dragon's power was in his head, to be exact hiding in his skull with the brain. He could feel it in the back of his eyes, and he carefully concentrated all his Mana into his skull.

"Be careful. You need to let the Dragon's power not burst out and devour everything. Let it get used to the presence of the Mana, and let it know that you don't mean any harm to it," Hondo explained. "Dragon is the most arrogant being in the whole world because they're close to divinity. You need to be humble in front of its presence, but at the same time don't let it take advantage of you," he added.

Rigel had no idea what to do with that information, but he tried his best to not awaken the Dragon's power. He used Mana not to show dominance but rather to let the Dragon's power get used to its presence.

"You have amazing control over Mana. Where did you learn that from? You might be one of the few people in the whole tower that can do something like this," Hondo said and felt Mana inside Rigel's head that was moving in sync and how gentle it was.

"I learned from a dead man," Rigel answered as he kept controlling Mana inside his head.

"It was a shame. He might be the greatest Mana user in the whole tower," Hondo responded. "Anyway, let's poke it now. But be very careful," he pointed out as he felt his Mana flowing into Rigel's body and up to his neck.

Rigel slowly approached the only place in his skull that he couldn't reach. When his Mana got there, his head was spinning so fast that he was about to collapse. Suddenly Hondo gripped his hands on Rigel's shoulders, crushing his bones to make Rigel stay awake.

"Don't let your Mana get sucked inside it! You need to prevent it from getting absorbed or the Dragon's power will satiate its hunger by taking everything inside and outside your body!" Hondo warned.

Rigel tried his best to hold his Mana back because it was as Hondo said that something was trying to take all his Mana. Thankfully, he had become a 5th Circle Mage who had the ability to control Mana completely. He used everything he had and tried to pull his Mana using the nerves, veins, and muscles inside his skull.

"That's it! You're doing an excellent job!" Hondo praised Rigel's perfect control of his Mana. "Now we have to keep doing this until the Dragon's power opens up, that's how you will unseal it," he explained. "You don't have to worry about anything else. If things go bad, I still have my Mana inside you. If needed, I can freeze your Mana and pull it away," he assured.

Rigel nodded and kept pulling his Mana away, but the problem was that the more the Dragon's power opened up, the stronger the force to suck his Mana in. He had to concentrate and use everything he had to prevent that from happening.

Half an hour had passed, and Rigel's body was cold as ice because he concentrated all his Mana flow in his head. He didn't know how long it would take for the Dragon's power to open up completely. Hondo told him that the moment the Dragon's power opened up, it was the easiest part of the process because the Dragon's power had acknowledged his ability.

Hondo opened his eyes and looked at the pool of water that had been completely frozen. In the garden next to him, the vegetables were frozen as well. He realized his ability was spreading wildly because he couldn't control his Mana really well like Rigel.

"I'm at my limit," Rigel said and his breath was vaporized because his body was frozen cold.

"You have no choice but to keep doing it because if we stop now, it's either the Dragon's power will acknowledge you, or we both die," Hondo responded and he was also getting weak from releasing too much Mana.

Rigel groaned as he kept pulling his Mana away from his head, but he couldn't handle it any longer. His Mana burst and it pushed Hondo away, he lost control over his body as his vision became dark. 

He didn't know where he was until the vision came back, but he was confused because he was somewhere up high on the mountain. He looked around and saw nothing but a fast flat land with clouds surrounding the area. He didn't know where he was until he heard roars from the distance.

He saw small dots in the bright and clear blue sky, and when they were getting closer, he realized those were dragons. He saw 9 dragons above him and landed in front of him. He was confused because the dragons seemed small since they were as tall as him, but when he looked down, he realized he was a dragon as well.

"(What's happening?)" Rigel thought as he looked at his own body covered in black scales.

A white dragon looked up and suddenly roared at the sky. One by one the other dragons roared at the same sky including Rigel himself. He was so confused, but he could feel the anger within him. Suddenly a bright light blinded him for a moment, and when he opened his eyes, he saw it again, the Messenger of Gods, standing proudly in the middle.

All the dragons with different colors raised their heads, gathering some power within themselves and their surroundings. There were White, Silver, Gray, Black, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Brown, and Purple Dragons. They all released their powerful blasts at the Messenger of the Gods and the power was enough to obliterate the whole mountain down to the base of it until there was nothing left.

To their surprise, the Messenger of the Gods was unscratched from those powerful attacks. When they were about to release another powerful attack, the Messenger flew at the black dragon and touched its head. The Messenger looked into the dragon's eyes and then pushed it down to the ground so easily.

The black dragon hit the ground so hard it sunk the whole ground with its body and created a massive earthquake and avalanche. Before it could recover the Messenger dove and punched it right in the face, burying its massive body deeper into the ground.

When Rigel opened his eyes, he noticed the dragon that he possessed was chained with countless monsters in front of it. He looked at the barren land with a dark red sky above with nothing around it. He wondered where he was until suddenly the chains that shackled the monsters down got released, leaving the dragon that was still chained to the ground.

A portal appeared in front of them and all the monsters charged in without hesitation. The dragon watched until all the monsters went into the portal, and that was when its body got released from the chains. The dragon flew into the portal and found itself in a modern world where everything had been destroyed by monsters.

"(This is...)" Rigel was shocked because it was Earth, and then he remembered which dragon he possessed. "(I'm that black dragon...)" he realized.

He relived the moment back then and saw how the dragon wasn't even trying to destroy anything because it was trying to find its way back. The dragon realized it was sent to a different world, and then fighter jets tried to bring it down. It got angry and killed everything that was trying to fight, and that was when it decided to show its power, burning the whole nation.

He watched everything from the dragon's perspective until it met him. He realized the dragon was sparring his life, but seeing how determined he was back then, the dragon decided to kill him painlessly. He understood that the dragon was trying to find its way back, and how it was warning him to run away.

The moment he killed the dragon and absorbed the dragon, he didn't expect the dragon was experience the same thing as him. The dragon could only watch him from inside his body, entering the tower, killing Players, and up until the day he tried to unseal the Dragon's power.

Everything became pitch black again, and this time Rigel heard a loud growling sound like the sky was rumbling before the storm. When he turned around he saw a dark red fire with sharp teeth below and above it. He thought the dragon was trying to burn him, but the dragon slowly closed its mouth.

"I'm sorry about what happened and for taking your life, but seeing what happened, I believe we both have the same goal, and I hope you can lend me a hand," Rigel said as he looked at the dragon in a pitch-black space. "There's a Goddess that might be able to bring you back. If you agree to lend me your power, I will try to get your life back," he added.

The dragon growled and the presence of the dragon disappeared.