“…I am the leader of the Dragon tribe and one of the ancient dragons, the sky dragon Raimeiryuu.”

“I’ve never heard of a dragon tribe in my life. Dragons are only part of legends and rarely encountered in dangerous dungeons.” I addressed.

“I don’t blame you kid for believing such things. We are indeed real and were part of this world like you humans, and the best example of our existence is that you fought one of us lately. I even shared with you my healing powers, didn’t you find that weird?” The old dragon sighed.

“Yeah I guess you are right, nothing will surprise me anymore. Then why did such a legendary being such as yourself appeared in front of me?” I questioned.

“You were chosen to bear the fates of the world in your back.”

I was taken aback by what he just said. I didn’t understand a thing about what he was talking about.

With a big surprise in my facial expressions, I said “Wait, what do you mean? You’ve lost me there.”

“Huh, I guess it’s not a surprise to see you acting like this, I don’t blame you kid.” He shrugged his big head.

“First of all, can you stop calling me a kid? My name is Shiryuu”. I lashed at him.

“Hahahaha, I’m sorry Shiryuu, let me explain things to you so you could understand the situation that you’re in. First of all, do you remember what has happened to you inside the dungeon where you found the sword?” He raised a finger from his big front leg and pointed it at me.

“Yes, I remember the massacre clearly”. I replied with mixed feelings.

“Then let me start by that. That place was where I was sealed. Or more precisely, where the sword I was sealed in was hidden.”

“Do you mean that the voice that I heard back then was yours?” Anger was getting the best of me.

“Yes. You were chosen to be the user of the sword the moment you entered the dungeon. Everything you went through inside of it was hurdling to test if you were capable of bearing such a burden, and you succeeded in doing so. That’s why I talked directly with you back then and gave you the sword.” He explained.

“Tests? You’re telling me that all those deaths were collateral damages because I was chosen by you?” I shouted at him.

“Everything has a price to pay. If you want to blame someone, blame your human ancestors for designing the sealed areas to work like this.”

“Humans were the ones who made that place? I heard that the weapons suddenly disappeared from the world?” I moved back several yards from the surprise.

“Then they lied to you or changed history to their befitting. Since the war against the demons thousands of years ago, I was sealed away inside the sword and hidden in this area, waiting for the time when I can finally awaken. That time is soon to come and the war that would destroy the world is upon us”. He explained

I couldn’t believe what I just heard. “The world is coming to an end? A big war is coming soon?” This was absurd, but thinking about it, I was neglecting the states of the world since I’ve started training. I only thought of getting more powerful to protect my close ones and to not let a tragedy like the one that happened when I was young repeat itself.

I couldn’t shake the bad feeling that I got from hearing all of this, and I felt like I really should believe this ancient dragon standing in front of me. He gave off the vibes of a wise old man.

“Alright, let’s say you are saying the truth. What do you expect me to do after hearing all of this?” I asked.

“I’m not expecting anything from you for the moment. You were chosen to be the inheritor of the sword and eventually all of my powers. So you should strengthen yourself and get used to using the sword.” He stated with the same poker face he had since the beginning.

“Inheriting your powers?”

“Yes, I think I should explain to you how the mythological weapons work, or that’s how you humans call them. The weapons were conceived to draw the powers of the being sealed inside them. In this case, my whole self and powers are sealed within the dragon sword that you got. But it’s not easy to do it. You have to be strong enough in every aspect to draw all the powers--”

Before finishing what he was telling me, his body started disappearing.

“What’s happening?” I jumped in surprise.

“It seems my time is coming to an end for the time being. I will use what powers I have left to unlock the sword so you can use it. I made it disappear that time so I could collect as much mana as possible from your world so I could regain my senses, but I need more time to do it. It is also a defensive mechanism so no one could take the sword from you. For the time being, just get stronger and get accustomed to using the sword. When the right time will come, we will meet again and have a more detailed discussion. Until then, don’t die Shiryuu.” He explained as he was fading away.

As he said his last words, his body completely disappeared and the world darkened around me.

I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of my room and a ray of light was coming through the window.

I took a moment to think of what has happened, and suddenly I felt a hard object being held in my hand. I turned my head to check what was it, and I saw that I was holding the dragon sword.

***

The following morning, I wandered off in town, reminiscing of the past where I didn’t know anything and was in the dark about the world.

“Well, I’m still in the dark of how things are being shaped, but anyways,” I admitted.

They say ignorance is a blessing, and I appreciated it even more at this moment after the few things I’ve heard from the old dragon.

I was always someone who wanted to learn the truth, even if it sting, especially since the death of my parents in one of the largest dungeon outbreaks that happened near this town.

Dungeon outbreaks were extremely rare. A document published by the General Guild a few years ago stated that the chances of an outbreak happening are less than 1 in 100000, and there were always prior alarming signs that made mid-term preparations possible to counter it. So I’ve always thought that it was strange that it had happened without prior notice, and because of it, thousands of lives were lost, including my warrior parents who went to save the town.

This one was of the reasons why I decided to become a solo warrior, to learn the real truth and keep moving at my discretion.

I wanted to talk to someone about what I’ve learned from the dragon, but it was the wisest move to just keep things to myself until I have a better view of everything.

Brushing all these ideas aside, I decided to enjoy the day by myself in preparation for my next dungeon raid.

I first went to a nearby tea-house to have breakfast. I always enjoyed their tea aroma mixed with herbs in the morning. I ordered few cups of tea and a full plate of one of the local specialties known in the area as the ‘Msemmen’. It’s a grilled flattened square-shaped dough, with locally made honey. It was such refreshing coordination that makes your day more worth it.

Afterward, I went to the hairdresser to trim my spiky black hair a little bit and then to a bookshop to check on some books that talked about legends and stuff related to them.

After few hours of reading random books, I didn’t find anything special, so I decided to leave and go fetch lunch somewhere.

I ordered a pizza and took it with me to a park to enjoy the afternoon sun while eating it at my pleasure.

I sat on a bench and kept looking at the kids innocently playing their games in the open-air patch of grass. It reminded me of my childhood when I often came to the same place to play with my friends. I felt a surge of nostalgia at that moment, but I brushed it off and decided to return to my apartment to change my clothes and hit the gym to train for an hour or two.

The gym had special rooms for warriors to train in. I rented one to test my new sword and also my overall strength and movements after the rank-up.

I started by doing the basic sword moves that any swordsman-type warrior can use; from basic sword moves to special moves.

The Step slash, a move where you concentrate your strength on your feet to perform a quick slash that outspeeds your opponents and hits them with a single slash, cutting them at a designated place before they can retaliate.

The uppercut slash, a move where you faint a normal slash for an uprising one.

The deadly combo of parry and counter, double basic moves, one blocks your opponent’s attack and the other uses the strength of his attack and converts it to your own and hits him with it.

The Thrust, a move where you concentrate your power at the tip of the sword and thrust it directly at your opponent, making it hard to block and powerful at the same time.

And finally the Air slash, a move that uses mana to cut the air around you and throws a moving slash embedded with mana at the opponent from any distance.

All the moves were powered-up and I felt a huge difference in power comparing it to before getting the dragon sword.

On the other hand, the dragon sword didn’t feel strange to my hands. I was naturally using it without any problems.

Normally it takes a little bit of time to get used to a sword, especially the high-graded ones. But I didn’t have any problems using this sword. It was like a part of my body. It felt so natural.

***

That night, after I had dinner and returned home to rest, I decided to give Leo a call to check if there are any upcoming raids that the Armored Wall will be participating in. He told me that he will be going to a B-dungeon owned by his guild in three days, so I told him to ask the guild master to let me participate with them.

The guild master, Mr.Nizar Bendraco, and I had an old history between us. Before he became a GM, he was a friend of my late parents. He often visited us when I was young. And after they died, he took care of me and helped me enroll in Central Academy, where I got my warrior license. He even wanted me to join his guild after he scouted Leo and Clara, but I declined and preferred to be a solo warrior.

When I was hospitalized, he visited me to check on my well-being.

“Someday I should talk to him about the information I got from the old dragon and ask him if he knows anything,” I muttered.

A few minutes later, Leo called me back and told me that he got the Ok from Mr.Nizar, so my first B-rank dungeon raid will be in three days.

The following day, I went and booked a room in the gym for the next days so I could concentrate on training myself and honing my skills with the dragon sword.

***

Three days went by so fast, and the day of the raid arrived. The dungeon was located in a forest 50km away from the town where I lived. I was excited and couldn’t sleep well, so I arrived there earlier than anyone.

An hour later, the full party of the guild arrived. They were twelve participants in total, including me.

The party consisted of 9 warriors, 2 healers, and one scout. They were all B-rank.

I was acquainted with most of them. The party leader was a middle-aged dwarf called George. He was a fighter-type Warrior.

Aside from him, there were four mage elves. Each one specialized in an element; fire, water, wind, and earth. A guardian called Joshua. Leo, who was a spear user, and Clara, who was an archer.

The boss monster of the dungeon was a chief Iron-Clad Orc with a big steel hammer. Aside from him, there were many goblins, hobgoblins, mage goblins, beasts, and killing beetles.

We were all set and ready to tackle this dungeon. Even if it was my first time in a B-rank dungeon, I was with a party full of veterans, so there was nothing to be scared of. Most of them were acquainted with this dungeon and cleared it many times.

After checking that everything was ready, the door of the dungeon opened and we went inside.