'You jinxed me, Zowen!' Tang Shaoyang was screaming inside.
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Detection Error!!!
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A bold bright red notice appeared in his eyes when he tried to use [Basic Detection] on the King of the beast.
As Zowen told him before, the beast king was a Dragon, a real one appeared in front of him. A gigantic and mythical creature that overwhelmed him by just looking at him.
Tang Shaoyang looked down on the spirits who kept telling him to run when he met a dragon, now he realized the reason why. Only the presence was enough to overwhelm him.
Inside a big cave made of crystal, the dragon was sitting and looking at him down with his big eyes. Even though the dragon was sitting, it was still too tall for Tang Shaoyang. Ten meters taller than him.
When their gazes met, Tang Shaoyang froze. He could not move his body, despite the overwhelming presence that pressured him, he did not look away. He looked toward the black scaled dragon into the eyes.
"Are you Tang Shaoyang?" The Dragon opened his mouth and a deafening voice entered his ears. The voice hurt his ears for sure, but then he was surprised.
"How do you know my name?" He blurted out warily. Even since he came into this world, he never told anyone his full name to anyone including his women.
'Is it the Waskin Adventure Guild? They check my adventure badge, but there's no way the dragon is related to the guild. Is it my subordinate?' He could not help but be suspicious about his subordinates since only they knew his full name.
"Don't worry, human. Your subordinates don't betray you, and I haven't met them yet either. You can be at ease, I know your full name from the prophecy of my wife!" The Dragon spoke again as if the dragon could read his thoughts, but soon it noticed Tang Shaoyang seemed uncomfortable.
Suddenly the dragon wrapped in a blinding light. Tang Shaoyang closed his eyes and was alerted immediately. He activated his [Spirit Eyes] and was ready to cast [Spirit Integration] with Zaneos at the moment of danger.
But soon he realized the dragon was doing nothing. Soon he found the gigantic dragon's body vanished under the blinding as an old man with a loose black robe was revealed.
The old man was so thin as if he had been starved for months. It was just skin and bone, he looked so pitiful. However, Tang Shaoyang did not lower his guard in the slightest.
—It's a mortal transformation, that old man is the dragon!
Zaneos warned Tang Shaoyang immediately. As for the dragon, he raised his head and met with Tang Shaoyang's gaze through [Spirit Eyes]. The old man was smiling at him, the first one who could detect the [Spirit Eyes].
At this point, Tang Shaoyang realized that even with Zaneos, his chance of winning was zero. Even when Zaneos at his peak could not kill a dragon let alone him who just borrowed part of his power.
'Escape? It's worth a try, but that will be my last resort,' Tang Shaoyang thought to himself.
While he was in his thoughts, he noticed a coffin made of ice next to the old man. The coffin was releasing frosty steam, and he saw a woman inside the coffin.
The woman was wearing a plain green robe and there was a beautiful wing on her back. Despite the plain robe, it did not affect her beauty. The woman inside the ice coffin was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
"She's very beautiful, right?" The dragon also turned toward the ice coffin. He noticed the saddening smile on the old man's face, "But look, she died while bringing a deep hatred with her."
Tang Shaoyang did indeed notice the anger? Hatred? From the woman's expression. Even though the woman died, he could feel that just from looking at her beautiful face.
"She's my wife, she used all her life force and also my life force to cast the Divine Skill of the Fairy Race, [Clairvoyance]." The old man looked back toward Tang Shaoyang.
The blinding light had disappeared a long time ago, and Tang Shaoyang canceled his [Spirit Eyes].
"This old body of mine is at the limit, and I can't move freely. Do you want to sit and listen to this old man's story and request?" After saying that, a set of chairs and a table made of crystal formed. The old man then pointed at the chair across him, inviting Tang Shaoyang to sit.
At this point, Tang Shaoyang had given up on running away or fighting the King. This was not something he was capable of, he had no choice to follow the dragon's wish. It was not like the dragon wanted to harm him or something, the dragon could do that easily, after all.
He walked toward the old man and sat across the dragon, "Before is self-proclaimed Gods and now a Dragon."
—Just information, you said that aloud.
Zowen reminded Tang Shaoyang. The latter immediately went with "Oops" as he immediately covered his mouth.
The Dragon merely smiled at Tang Shaoyang, "So you have met with the self-proclaimed Gods?"
Tang Shaoyang was surprised by the way the dragon spoke. The latter seemed to already know the Gods' existence. He thought their existence was secret or something.
Since he had said it out loud, he simply nodded, "Yes, I met their avatar or something, I guess," since he was not sure what the humanoid light was.
"Haha, of course, they don't want to show their true figure. They are just normal humans like you, but a little more power and authority. If they show you their true face, they will hurt their pride. Seeing you with their true face will remind them that they are not a God, but just the same mortal," the condescending tone in the Dragon's words was very clear in Tang Shaoyang's ears.
Tang Shaoyang chose to not respond to the Dragon. Just in case that he accidentally offended the Dragon without knowing. His life was basically in this Dragon's hand.
Hearing no response from the human, the Dragon continued, "In fact, my request is related to these Gods, but we can save that for later. Let's start with the formal introduction, my name is Rumru, and that, in the ice coffin is my wife. Ariela is her name, the last Fairy of the Fairy Race."
"As you know, I am the King of the Orin Forest, though I got the title accidentally. I am not an actual King, but they called me their King, so just go along with them."
Tang Shaoyang nodded, "My name is Tang Shaoyang–" before he could finish, Rumru cut in, "Emperor of the Tang Empire, you call yourself the " Emperor, the first Emperor of your empire, and you come from another world called Earth. Correct me if I am wrong."
Tang Shaoyang's eyes went wide in shock. He was not expecting the dragon to know his details to such an extent. At this moment, he realized it was not his subordinate since the opposite party knew the details that even his women did not know.
"Are you willing to hear my story, Tang?" The old man smiled.
"It's not like I have any choice, and change of pace is also good. I can't be fighting every day, though I can't promise you that I am a good listener," Tang Shaoyang grinned. Since the Dragon was easy-going and friendly, it made him get more relaxed around the dragon.