Chapter 38: It was Big.

A dragon.

"Hey Jasmine, what are they doing?" I said the two kids didn't see me arriving as they were too busy doing something.

They were doing the cross-legged meditation thing that Jasmine liked so much; it seemed just mind-numbing to me. How did she even get two kids to do that instead of running around the place?

"You're back already; they're cultivating as normal people do," she replied, seemingly surprised at my presence. "You didn't take long; I assume you didn't find it?".

fucking dragon.

I hesitated, but eventually continued, "No, no, I'm pretty sure I know where it is."

"Then why didn't you get it?"

"Well, Jasmine, there are a few hundred meters of scorched earth around the cave where the seed is, maybe ten dead bodies with so much power that they make anyone else I've met pale in comparison, and a dragon."

"A dragon?" She asked, an eyebrow rising, "What kind of dragon?"

"The big kind," I replied. That was a question that would have meant something if I knew different types of dragons. "It was red and bleeding."

"That's not helpful; how strong was it?" She asked, but she probably didn't expect any actually detailed replies. I was still struggling to determine the specific level of someone else in my own realm; forget about someone that far above me.

But I could.

I brought out the strongest of the bodies that I found right outside of the cave; it was probably the most valuable thing that I could find to research how high-level cultivators worked.

There was no way humans could have that kind of power without fundamental changes; my own rapidly darkening blood was proof enough.

"Emperor Profound Realm, a member of one of this empire's great sects..." she mumbled before fixing her sight on me, "and you got close enough to see the dragon?"

"Yeah, I was... maybe ten meters away?" I replied uncertainly. I could only see the blood around me before my survival instinct kicked in and kicked out whatever greed the seed had.

The Emperor realm was pretty high up in the ladder of power, but it was still two whole levels below the Sovereign realm. Just what kind of monsters were there in this world? And I was supposed to become one of them?

If an emperor realm cultivator was like a fusion reactor, just what would a sovereign be like? An apocalypse-level explosion?

And Jasmine had said that there were things beyond even that; what the hell was up with the physics of this universe? How could that much power exist within a human body?

The Profound Vein Network in the corpse was completely different from those of any person I had examined; on the one hand, it was going to teach me a lot more than anywhere else on the effects of Profound Energy on the body; on the other hand, it meant that what worked on a lower-level cultivator was probably going to be worthless on higher-level ones.

I needed to study more of those pills; the fact that they worked meant that there was a lot more than I could understand right now. Was it only a mixture of particular intents that gave them power, or was it something else?

She flicked my forehead.

It hurt. "Ow, what the hell, Jasmine?"

"You weren't listening; you should learn to not lose yourself in your thoughts; that is bad manners." She explained, which sounded reasonable.

If not for the single fact that, "I spaced out for two seconds, you violent child!"

"Two seconds is too much! And who are you calling a child?" She flicked me again.

I glared at her but dropped the subject, and I just continued with an annoyed expression still on my face, "What were you saying?"

"I said, If what you're saying is right, how are you still alive?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"If it's the one who killed this person, you met an Emperor-level dragon; the corpse is still new, so it was attacked recently; it should have killed you." She elaborated.

I didn't like what she elaborated on.

"When you put it like that, yeah, but I saw a lot of blood in the cave, and I am pretty sure that it was passed out, so it probably didn't notice me." I replied, trying to understand what happened myself.

But she immediately replied, "Then why did you run away? If it was passed out from the battle, you could have taken the seed if you remained cautious."

"It was a big dragon, Jasmine; I wasn't going to stick around and figure out if it was sleeping or just resting its eyes." I replied as if what I said was obvious.

Because to me, it was pretty damn obvious.

She clicked her tongue and said, "What a coward."

I looked at her and replied with a sarcastic tone, "I'm sorry if I value my life more than a stupid seed, miss I-Will-Die-If-The-Handsome-Doctor-Dies."

"So you ran away for me?" She chuckled, evidently not buying it for a second.

"No, I ran away because it was a big fucking dragon," I replied with a smirk. "I don't tickle the sleeping dragon."

I might be starting to, very, very barely, integrate into this world society by building my small place in it, but I sure as hell wasn't going to steal from a big dragon.

I wasn't suicidal. Anymore.

Had that dragon been the first thing I saw after coming to this world, I would have tried to pet it, for sure, but I would have still thought this was a dream before being incinerated.

I might still try to pet it if it's friendly.

I want to pet a dragon now. Maybe I was suicidal.

"Were there any beasts in the inner part of the forest?" The little girl suddenly asked.

"Nope, they probably ran away during the dragon's rampage; it wasn't a really habitable place since there were no plants."

"Good, we're going back to take the seed." She replied.

"What."

"We're going back to take the seed." She replied, her tone not allowing questions.

Unfortunately, I was tone deaf. "Did you miss the part where I said that there is a big dragon?"

"No, if it wakes up, I'm going to kill it; if it doesn't, you take the seed and we leave." She replied, resorting to murdering the big dragon as the first option.

It felt wrong; it wasn't a cow. Eating cows was good because they were tasty, but "How intelligent are dragons again?"

"As much as humans, maybe more in your case, why?" She didn't miss the chance to take a jab at me, but I was going to let it slide.

I made her meals after all.

"You're not going to kill the dragon!" I replied.

"Why?" She replied, her face showing that she genuinely didn't understand, "I can still easily kill an Emperor Profound level dragon; it might flare the poison though, but I can deal with it if I'm ready."

"First, it's a big dragon; it looked so cool and menacing, like something straight out of a film," I replied, uncaring that she didn't understand the concept of films in the first place. "Second, if it's as intelligent as humans, I can't allow you to kill it, him, or them."

Correctly gendering a dragon wasn't my main priority; stopping my master from killing said dragon was.

"Why do you care? It would kill you without a second thought if the roles were reversed." She replied.

"Maybe they won't; they might be a pacifist dragon!"

She pointed at the dead Emperor-level cultivator.

"Okay, maybe they only kill those who attack them." I lowered my pretense.

"Humans and beasts are constantly at war with each other; beasts are resources to humans, and so is the other way around; any Emperor-level beast has killed their fair share of humans." She reasoned.

"But... but it's a dragon?" At this point, I didn't have any other argument; it just felt wrong to kill an intelligent creature because I wanted something that they owned for who knows how long.

Killing an innocent creature for such reasons just felt wrong.

Those strong cultivators had tickled the sleeping dragon; there weren't any human settlements nearby; they came here deliberately, so I could very easily forgive the dragon for killing them.

It was like killing poachers; it was the morally right thing to do.

And if I did consent to killing the dragon, then I would be no better than a poacher.

Where are dragons, an endangered species?

"What if we do it like this? We go there; if it's sleeping, we take the seed, and if it wakes up, you pick me up, and we run away. You won't even strain your body as much this way; it's a win-win."

"Whatever, as long as we get the seed," She rolled her eyes and finally gave in. "But I'll let you know, an Emperor-level dragon's corpse is worth enough to pay for whatever weird experiment and material you might need for a long time."

"No." I replied without hesitation.

"What about the kids?"

"I don't know; let's ask them." I turned to the two seemingly meditating kids. "So, Xue, Zhu, what do you think?"

They didn't reply.

"I know you were listening in; I can see that you aren't circulating your energy."

"We're very sorry, teacher; please don't punish us." They replied in perfect synchrony; had they been trained to apologize? That seemed like a very weird thing to train for. Zhu took the lead. "I just heard you talk about a dragon, so I grew curious."

"Yeah, what she said!" He replied to the boy eagerly, earning him a punch from his sister.

That boy really wasn't the smartest; I had to teach him more thoroughly.

As he inexplicably shivered for no apparent reason, I continued, "You're not going to see the dragon; would you rather follow me a bit deeper where there shouldn't be any beast, or should I bring you to the nearest settlement while I do what I need to do?"

Xue kept his mouth closed as he turned to look at his sister, who had already been looking back at him. He nodded at her, and after a few seconds, she finally replied, "Teacher, we don't want to be burdens; the dragon might heal while you bring us to a settlement; we will hide and cultivate."

What good kids! I was proud of them.

"Good!" I replied, "Let's go right now."

I picked them up, carried them as if they were sacks of potatoes, and ran.

Amid screams of terror from the two newly ascended second-level elementary-level cultivators, I reached a relatively safe open area thirty seconds later, and it was a very open area.

So open, in fact, that all the trees that should have been in sight had been burned down to embers by dragon fire.

I let the two sacks of potatoes sit on the ground and observed their panting forms. I should have gone faster to shorten their misery.

Next time.

"Since you two will cultivate here, let me..." I launched a few complex rune formations on the ground; it was a little something that I had been working on since we began this little journey a week before.

I called it "the camping pack." I still had to condense the various formations into a single one, but these were meant to increase the natural energy concentration in an area, warm it up if it was cold and cool it down if it was hot, hide their presence from the surroundings, and work as detectors should anything come close.

I planted the receptor rune on the little girl, making her look funny with a glowing rune on her forehead, and she nodded at my work.

It was the little things that made life worth living.

"Now, be good children and stay here and cultivate or do whatever you want; I'll be right back."

They didn't reply; they still sprawled on the ground while keeping in the urge to puke. It was fun to be a parent.

"Here." I mumbled as I slapped another rune on both of their heads, cooling them down slightly and getting rid of the car sickness.

A few seconds later, they finally looked back at me, their eyes filled with indescribable emotions.

Yes, teacher, be safe."